Land Before Time: Remnants
by Falcon88
Summary: Sequel to LBT: WotW. A new enemy threatens the tense peace between the Great Valley and the Mysterious Beyond, forcing a new war upon them. With old friends and new allies, Littlefoot and team must answer the ultimate question. What is the price for peace
1. ScrambleVisitors

Disclaimer: I don't own the Land Before Time; it's sequels, or any of its characters. Except those which I create and write up.

Summary: It's been five weeks since the end of the war. The Great Valley and the Mysterious Beyond coexist in relative, albeit tense, peace. However, when a new enemy threatens this peace, a war of attrition is forced upon them all. With old friends and new allies, Littlefoot must lead his team back into battle, while discovering answers to the ultimate questions of war. How far will one go for victory? What's the cost of defeat? What is the price for peace?

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 1: Scramble/Visitors

Littlefoot floated on a lake next to Ali. Five weeks. He couldn't believe that it had been merely five weeks since they lost King and that the war was finally over. A red long tailed sharptooth skidded in the mud and nearly joined them in the lake.

"Sir!" He panted. "Your grandparents say a huge leaf-eaters herd is coming in tomorrow. Also, Blade states the teams should get some practice in." Littlefoot shook his head. They had met Scythe shortly after the war ended. He is a very young sharptooth though still older than Littlefoot and his friends. And, he insisted in calling Littlefoot sir, after a 'legacy', since the sharpteeth still believed he was the best fighter in the Great Valley, for never giving up. Littlefoot persisted in breaking Scythe's habit, but pretty much gave up.

"All teams are go for the practice run!" Sawtooth shouted. Pterano started to move along the clearing, gathering speed, with Littlefoot and Ali on his back. Another flyer started screeching causing Pterano to stop immediately, nearly throwing the two longnecks off. Several flyers came tumbling done in not-so-graceful landings.

"We've got a nine-three-zero! Everyone scramble! Now!" Ordered Blade, looking towards the noise. Turning back, he saw the others watching him as if for further instructions. "Well?! What are you all waiting for?! Move!"

"Umm, what's a nine-three-zero?"

"Its when there's a herd coming in that doesn't know of our activities." Littlefoot answered the newer dinosaur. Those who had skeleton armor took them off and hid them in a cave, along with other 'equipments'. The groups in the water, swimmer or not, swam out and started pulling the vines that made an obstacle course, out of the water. Several dinosaurs took off leaves wrapped around their heads and/or body, while others carried away stacks of large folded leaves. As the flyers were led somewhere that they wouldn't arouse suspicion, groups started covering the large strip of barren land with pieces of leaves and mud from the tall grass, and patting it all down. A second group fixed the leaves to stand up rather than be crushed in a straight line.

"Put everything else in the cave behind the Thundering Falls!" Shouted Littlefoot. There was a lot of work, but with everyone helping out it went quickly.

Littlefoot stood next to his friends and team, soaking wet. In order to hide the sweat and smell, everyone who was working had jumped in the water when finished with their duties. He could only imagine what the herd before them thought. Though they always trusted leaf-eaters, no risks were taken. For starters, while the new herd was busy talking to the elders of the Great Valley, Streakclaw tapped the left side of his head with a claw from said side. Almost inconspicuous in the trees behind the new herd, Scythe nodded. Also, although their faces showed almost no emotion, Littlefoot saw in the eyes of his team that they were sizing up the dinosaurs before them for any strengths, weaknesses, and possible hostility, with extreme concentration.

"Littlefoot?" Called his grandpa. "How about showing our guests around?"

"Uh, okay."

Littlefoot brought the herd to a river, where on the other side he saw two Great Valley long tailed sharpteeth struggling to carry something between them. He quickly adjusted himself to block the sharpteeth from the herd's view.

"Over there beyond those trees, is where the Stone of Cold Fire landed." He said raising his right foot to point. Looking back, he saw the sharpteeth nod and walk away, while the herd was distracted.

"Well this sure is an interesting place." Said the herd leader, when the tour was over.

"Glad… everyone liked it." Littlefoot said, panting.

"This is the last time I take tours." He thought. "Too much walking and all those questions, jeez." The herd still seemed to have questions.

"Exactly how big is this valley?"

"How's the climate year round?"

"Is food always plenty or sometimes scarce?" Littlefoot tried not to faint. "Great! More questions!" Out loud he said, "Depends on the seasons, and the valley is pretty gigantic."

Littlefoot continued the tour and questions answering. As he walked he reflected on all that had happened in the last five weeks. This was the third herd to come into the valley and the second that was unaware of their activities. After the war, negotiation broke out and the Great Valley opened up its welcome to allow new sharpteeth to live there. So far twelve sharpteeth resided there; Blade, Sawtooth, Streakclaw, Scythe and eight new arrivals from the Mysterious Beyond, though as far as most outsiders knew, there was only the original four. Also, after the war, Blade and Sawtooth recommended frequent training exercises to keep everyone ready and in shape. The grown-ups had eventually relented and agreed that it'd be for the best. And now they kept that hidden from newcomers so as not to start a panic; they did not want others to think they were expecting battle again.

"This has been a long day." He muttered silently to himself.


	2. CaughtRavage

Author's Note: I know this took a while, but I recently injured my knuckle (Don't know how, probably hit a piece of furniture by accident) and I was just yesterday able to go to the doctor's. He says it might be a fracture (I hope not!), so I'm just asking readers to bear with me if I take some time updating; I'll try to go as fast as possible, without rushing.  
Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 2: Caught/Ravage

The female longneck knew Littlefoot had been hiding something from the herd ever since the river and the sharpteeth all around were quite unusual.

"Alright, what's going on here?" She confronted him when the herd dispersed.

"What do you mean?" Asked Littlefoot in surprise.

"I mean all the weird stuff here!"

"Sorry is my sister bothering you?" Asked another longneck.

"Uh no not really," Said Littlefoot. "We were just talking about…"

"The war. It was about the war, Drake."

"Whoa! That's right. I heard of that war. Our herd was and still is scared to death of it. Were you in it?"

"Yes. I'm Littlefoot." Said Littlefoot.

"Yeah so I've heard."

"Amber, remember what mom said." Stated her brother.

"Be polite. I know, I know." Sighed Amber.

"So who are your new friends?" Blade and Scythe barely noticed the other longnecks gasping at sight of them.

"Uh, what?!" Scythe asked.

"You're a-a…" Amber started.

"Sharptooth." She breathed with her brother.

"Well of course we are." Said Blade.

"Their herd is scared of you guys." Littlefoot answered.

"Ah, I see."

"Alright! Steady that!" Sawtooth ordered. The teams were in a small clearing in the middle of the night, training. Littlefoot helped out some of those having trouble.

"I knew it!" Came a voice from behind.

"Amber! We just…" Littlefoot was cut off by a noise he'd never again want to hear.

"What's that?!" Asked Amber.

"Warnings. It's an attack!" Littlefoot answered.

"Attack?! What do you mean attack?!" Shouted Amber.

"All teams rendezvous by the falls!" Shouted Blade as several dinosaurs scrambled around, attempting to get to their assigned positions. A loud crash sounded nearby and dust was kicked into the air. The teams watched several sharpteeth run out of the dust. "All teams engage! Engage!" Blade ordered.

"Defend the valley!" Called Sawtooth. Littlefoot tried to see who was fighting what, when he noticed several leaf-eaters being easily tossed off a silver and black sharptooth. He was of Chomper's kind, but with a stronger build. It made its way over to Littlefoot, where a three-horn tried to stop him, only to get grabbed by the horns and flung at the ground.

"Who are you?" Littlefoot tried to hide the fear in his voice.

"I'm Ravage and you'd do better to remember it." He rumbled.

"What do you want?"

"Only what remains of the stone."

"What?! The stone of Cold Fire blew up before the war's end!" Said Littlefoot confused.

"That's what you think!"

"No! It's what we know!" Roared Blade, slamming into Ravage.

As Littlefoot watched, Ravage somehow managed to kick Blade back. As the large sharptooth staggered to get his footing, four other sharpteeth slammed into him. Blade seemed to have lost his footing completely, but somehow miraculously managed to get his left leg down, being pushed back before slamming his right foot down to. They still pushed him back up bit, Blade tearing up the ground as he brace against them, but eventually stopped. They could no longer push back the stronger sharptooth. Sawtooth managed to get one off him, and Grandpa Longneck got another one. With a lot less force against him, Blade lifted up the two remaining sharpteeth and slammed them against a valley wall. Unfortunately Littlefoot had been paying too much attention to the battle at hand; he'd forgotten to guard himself. A sharp screech filled his ear, causing all fighting to cease and everyone turn to him. Littlefoot realized a long-tailed sharptooth had snuck up behind him and was holding a clawed hand next to his next. Littlefoot mentally berated himself for his slip-up.  
"Littlefoot, no!" Yelled Ali. He turned to look at her. He plainly could see the worry on her face. Amber stood a few feet away, fear on her face and in her eyes. Littlefoot looked to each of his team. What he wouldn't have given to just tell everyone to keep fighting.  
"All teams…stand down." The resignation in Blade's voice was obvious.

"Set the trial." Said Ravage. Each of the battle participants from the Great Valley had a sharptooth guarding them, except Blade who had two large sharpteeth behind him. Littlefoot looked at the large sharptooth in confusion. As he watched, Ravage went to a nearby tree and scratched up its bark. Littlefoot's eyes widened as he was a small, glowing blue rock in his claws. Realization hit like a stone wall. This battle site was where the Stone of Cold Fire had landed.  
"This is it?!" Roared Ravage, not feeling any added strength from the stone. Littlefoot and the teams remained silent. They weren't about to tell him of its secrets. "This is useless!" Ravage threw the piece of the stone as hard as he could. With the added strength that he hadn't realized the rock had give him, the piece of the Stone of Cold Fire flew far and fast, out of there sight range. Ravage narrowed his eyes, realizing what had happened. He angrily turned to Littlefoot.

"Let's see what you have to say to our charges." He growled.

"Wha-?" Began Littlefoot.

"You ruined our home, you massacred our martyrs! You destroyed my family!" Roared Ravage. Littlefoot's eyes constricted; he had a hunch on what was coming. The shocked look on Blade's face wasn't helping matters either.

"No." Littlefoot breathed in disbelief.

"You slaughtered my brother!" Several gasps came from this exclamation.

"Who ever says the leaf-eaters and allies shall live speak now!" Shouted Ravage. Silence, save an explosive crash as, up on the overlooking cliff, a long tailed sharptooth rammed into a boulder, shattering it.

"I say!" Ravage and friends squinted at the intruder through clearing dust. It was a large green sharptooth. Littlefoot remembered him from where they first met Sawtooth. Ravage nodded and his sharpteeth started shooting rocks at him. The green sharptooth jumped off the ledge before impact, and with kicks, elbows, and punches, knocked out his attackers. With the needed distraction, the Great Valley dinosaurs began to turn the table on their surprised captors.

"Come on, bring it!" Ravage charged preparing to attack with his right claw. The green sharptooth's open claw caught Ravage's arm, sliding off and pushing it away. With Ravage caught by surprise, the green sharptooth hit him as hard as possible in the chest.

"This ain't over! Not by a long shot!" Ravage roared picking himself off the ground. He charged the green sharptooth, but before he could reach him, Blade slammed his shoulder into him. Ravage reeled, injured. He was bleeding from the injury caused by the spike on Blade's shoulder. Taking this opportunity, Littlefoot transformed into his taller, spikier form. Ravage stared down Blade, Littlefoot and the new comer. Littlefoot was scared as he saw the hatred burning in his eyes.  
"Fall back!" Ravage shouted with a growl. His forces looked at each other, before turning tail and running. Then with agility rivaling Blade's, and far surpassing an injured sharptooth, Ravage leapt up onto the steep valley wall and proceeded to climb out using ledges, and natural breaks in the wall.

"Hey kid, you've got some friends." Said the new comer moving aside.

Littlefoot could barely believe it.

"Ruby!" He shouted, running forward. "You made it!"

"I'm here aren't I?" She said. The others caught up. "Hello my friends, my friends hello." The team smiled; it was her.

"It's Ruby!" Shouted Chomper.

"Who?" This was Scythe.

"Oh yeah, introductions." Said Littlefoot. "Ruby this is Scythe, Streakclaw, Sawtooth, and Blade." He pointed out the sharpteeth. "Guys this is our friend Ruby."  
"I need to do some introductions too. These are my parents and siblings." Ruby said, indicating the four behind her. "And the big guy is…" She began the indicating the green sharptooth beside them.  
"Harbinger." The green sharptooth interrupted.

"Harbinger of what?" Asked Scythe. Blade, Streakclaw, and Sawtooth shook their heads.

"That's my name." Replied Harbinger.

About a mile outside the valley, Ravage's forces were regrouping. On a ledge overlooking the path to the Great Valley, and the valley itself, stood Ravage, glaring silently in contempt.

"I will annihilate them! We will see that place burn!" He said breaking the silence. The sharpteeth with him turned to look at their leader.

"I declare full war. **Destroy that valley!!!!!**"


	3. Leatherback

Author's Note: Wow, this is just embarrassing. I haven't updated in nearly two years. This is just sad. Sorry guys, I have no excuse, I guess I just let myself get too wrapped up in what then was the coming senior year and more recently college. One of the last things I asked for was patience, and you guys were more than so. Now, I don't know if anyone even cares about this story anymore, but I have been able to more or less outline (and modify here and there) where I want to take this story, and I can say that it will be darker then WotW, and most likely longer too. I can't promise I'll be updating fast, it all depends on how much homework we get, but I can promise that I fully intend to finish this story.  
Disclaimer: Again, I don't own the Land Before Time; its sequels, or any of its characters. Except those which I create and write up.  
Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 3: Leatherback

The small blue rock flew through the air, still going on the force that had inadvertently been used to throw it. As it flew, a volcano loomed in its path. A long-tailed, fast biter sharptooth stood on the volcano's mouth edge looking out. Its eyes widened as it saw the rock hurtling towards it. Before the sharptooth could even move, the rock caught it square in the chest with a force no rock that size should have, knocking the dinosaur into the volcano, the rock going with it. The sharptooth landed with a light splash of lava. As the lava settled once more, the area where the sharptooth had landed started glowing blue, then suddenly all the lava in the volcano shot up as if it was erupting. A massive black arm came out of the lava and gripped the edge of the volcano.

Blade, Sawtooth and Harbinger, stood off by the trees conferring with another large sharptooth, named Trachor. Trachor was the ambassador of the Mysterious Beyond to the Great Valley. He was a gray colored sharptooth, with an observant attitude and rather open-minded. All four sharpteeth looked unhappy, which the rest of the valley took as a very bad sign. Finally after a long while, Blade let out a heavy sigh and turned to the waiting leaf-eaters.  
"As of yesterday's attack, I am forced to ask you all to prepare for the inevitable and for the Council of Elders to make prompt decisions regarding the immediate and unconditional removal of guise and allow our teams to mobilize in the open. I regret to inform you all that due to the unprovoked attack, and the ominous threat, the Great Valley and The Mysterious Beyond are again at war." Finished Blade. Almost immediately, the crowd began muttering.  
"And with that, history repeats." Muttered Littlefoot. Beside him, Scythe put his claws on his head and looked up into the skies. He thought he'd escaped this.  
"How can this be happening? How, after all that training, were we caught unprepared?" Asked Ali.  
"I don't know." Answered Streakclaw. "But war is upon us once again. And once again we must rise up to the challenge."  
"At least this time their numbers won't be as large." Said Cera. "I hope."

"Would someone please tell me why we weren't informed that Seeker had a brother?!" Shouted Mr. Threehorn.  
"Uh, slipped our mind?" Offered Streakclaw. Mr. Threehorn growled at that.  
"Last I'd heard, he was dead." Said Blade. "Apparently I was misinformed."  
"Whatever the case, we have a new threat to the valley that needs to be dealt with accordingly." Said Bron.  
"Agreed." Blade nodded.  
"I'd just like to point out that Ravage is not to be underestimated in any circumstance. He's more cunning than Seeker perhaps even stronger." Added Trachor. Mr. Threehorn gruffed at that and moved off. Littlefoot could guess where to. When the first war had been declared, he had sent away Tria and Tricia to safety; thus they had been absent from the entire war. They hadn't even met King and/or Zero, and had had to be introduced to Blade, Streakclaw, Sawtooth and later Scythe. Doubtlessly Mr. Threehorn would try to send them away again.  
"Hey Trachor? I've been listening to some of the talks outside the Valley." Said Sawtooth. Ravage has labeled you a traitor and has threatened you with death if you return. I believe you should remain here, at least for the time being while we sort everything out." The gray sharptooth frowned but nodded.

In a small clearing, a group of sharpteeth amassed.  
"Sir! A herd of longnecks is approaching the valley. Shall we attack?" A long tailed sharptooth asked of a larger sharptooth. Ravage turned to the smaller dinosaur.  
"No. We don't want to ruin the element of surprise. Besides the more the better."

"A herd is approaching!" Yelled a flyer. "Longnecks!"  
"Huh, another herd?" Said Littlefoot. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Ali, Ruby, and Chomper made their way to a valley entrance, Blade and Scythe followed suit for lack of a better thing to do at the moment. As they arrived, Littlefoot's mouth dropped.  
"I don't believe it." Ha said almost laughing.  
"It's Rhett!" Shouted Ali.  
"Hey Rhett!" Littlefoot called, running up to the young longneck, the others following close. Blade and Scythe waited by the shadows of some trees.  
"Hey guys! It's good to see you all again!" Said Rhett.  
"It's good to see you too." Said Littlefoot. Then he turned and looked behind him before turning back to Rhett. "Uh, Rhett, this is Blade and Scythe." The two sharpteeth took this as their cue to approach.  
"So it's true, huh?"  
"Hi!" Said Scythe holding up a claw in greeting, causing Rhett to unintentionally recoil. Blade growled angrily at the younger sharptooth. "Heh, sorry." Scythe added, sheepishly.  
"Nah, that's alright. I'm sorry. I knew there'd be sharpteeth hear, after all I'd heard about the last war." Said Rhett. "It's just that I let myself get surprised. I'm still getting used to the whole idea of having sharpteeth as friends."  
"Understandable." Said Littlefoot, causing Blade to nod in agreement. "But, you'll get used to it if you stick around. Which reminds me, what brings your herd back here?" Rhett smiled.  
"We heard this is one of the most peaceful places in the land now." He said.  
"On that, you're not wrong." Said Ruby. Everyone looked at her, wondering if she'd tell him, or was waiting for one of them to take over. "Well, for the most part."  
"You kinda came at a bad time." Said Littlefoot. Rhett frowned at where this was going.  
"We were attacked and Trachor agreed that the Great Valley should declare war again." Said Blade.  
"Trachor, wha-who?" Asked Rhett.  
"The Mysterious Beyond's representative to the Great Valley. Ravage, that's our new enemy, has banished him from the Mysterious Beyond and is rallying forces." Said Chomper.  
"Meanwhile, the Great Valley is still allowing sharpteeth to take refuge here, and Trachor is trying to rally sharpteeth to our side." Said Cera.  
"As it stands it's still too early to tell if he'll be successful. Ravage must be something terrible, the sharpteeth outside the valley are terrified of him." Ali added. Rhett was looking more and more nervous by the minute.  
"Still, like she said, it's still too early." Said Littlefoot. "Many sharpteeth probably won't ally themselves with Ravage after the last war and there's still a lot of hope." Rhett nodded.  
"My herd is going to stick around for a while and I guess we'll see what happens. This could all end fast." He said hopefully.

As dusk started to approach, the sky had turned a shade of orange, and the slight breeze lifting the dirt caused the air to feel dry and dusty. The group was making their way to the center of the valley when a tremor hit.  
"Earthshake!!!" Shouted Rhett.  
"That's no regular earthshake!" Said Littlefoot.  
"Then what was it?"  
"Er… what if I told you a massive sharptooth was about to land amongst us?" Asked Scythe.  
"Reality check, get real." Said Streakclaw, coming over.  
"Reality check, tell _**him**_ that!!" Scythe pointed up to where a massive black form was fast approaching. It landed in the center of the valley with an earth shaking crash.  
"Jeez! What is that thing?!" Said Littlefoot, as they rose to their feet to stare at the huge newcomer. It was a huge, bipedal, black dinosaur, unlike any they'd ever seen, with glowing white eyes, giant teeth in its huge mouth and a menacing feel about it. If they had to choose only one word to describe it, it would be 'thick'. The thing was like living, moving volcano, its body was in a way that it looked like it was armored in what appeared to be cooled molten plates, and what seemed to be red magma between the 'plates', giving the black body and eerie red highlight. The dinosaur roared a loud challenge, and to everyone's surprise, it let off a burst of flames from its mouth.  
"Everyone, let's move!" Littlefoot ordered, leading the group in a wide arc around the dinosaur.

On the newcomer other side, the valley grownups looked on in shock. What was that thing before them and where did it come from? More importantly, what did it want with the valley? They turned in relief upon seeing Littlefoot and the other kids approaching safely with the two sharpteeth.  
"Children, are you okay?" Asked Grandpa Longneck.  
"Yeah, we're okay. But, what it that thing?" Littlefoot replied.  
"I don't know. I've never even so much as heard of anything like that." Said Bron.  
"Whatever it is, it must be stopped before it burns the whole valley." Said Grandma Longneck. The four adult sharpteeth looked at each other.  
"Trachor, you fight?" Asked Blade.  
"I…" Trachor started then stopped, looking towards the Mysterious Beyond. "Yeah. And I can learn if I don't." Blade nodded.  
"Alright here's the plan. We mount a combined air-ground assault on this thing. We must coordinate properly." Turning to Sawtooth, Blade added, "You want to handle the aerial element?"  
"Gladly." The older sharptooth said with a curt nod.  
"Chomper? We'd appreciate it if your parent can help out." Said Blade.  
"You can count on us!" Said the young sharptooth, turning and running to get his parents.  
"This thing is too big for a direct attack." Blade continued. "We'll divide its attention and attack from various sides. I believe our best bet is to somehow knock it down."  
"The bigger they are the harder they fall." Said Littlefoot.  
"Let's just hope it's not harder for them to fall." Said Scythe.  
"Yeah, it seems to have a low and sturdy balance." Shorty observed. "We'll have to get around that."  
"Or turn it to our advantage." Added Streakclaw.  
"He's right." Littlefoot agreed. "This thing is huge, but it's bulk and mass makes it slow and lumbering, while we're fast and agile."  
"Right. We'll coordinate the ground element and attack with the air teams. Everyone get ready!" Said Blade. With the first flyers, the assault began.

Ravage and his forces were charging down a tree covered hillside fully intent on hitting the valley again. Due to the dense tree coverage, they couldn't see over the distance ahead. The sharpteeth burst from the trees as the Great Valley came into view and Ravage paused at the sight before him, causing the sharpteeth behind him to crash into each other. The scene before was like nothing they'd ever seen. The Great Valley was under attack by an unknown opponent. Whatever was attacking the valley was huge! The valley walls only went to its thighs. As they watched, the attacker turned its head and blasted flames from its mouth, obviously aiming at a flyer too far for Ravage and his sharpteeth to see. The powerful blast flew at them, and the ducked down just in time as it destroyed the trees before them and hit the hill behind them.  
"Sir?" Asked a sharptooth tentatively. Ravage clenched his teeth.  
"Fall back for now!" He ordered, much to the others' relief.

"Come on everyone, charge!" Yelled Pterano, rallying the group of flyers Sawtooth had directed to attack from behind. The massive dinosaur turned and with a roar, swiped the air, knocking the flyers aside.  
"Uncle!" Petrie yelled, who had rushed after the group. He charged the large dinosaur, crashing into its back and bouncing off harmlessly. The black creature didn't even seem to have noticed him  
"Its back feels all leathery." Petrie announced.  
"It no use attacking there, the flyers will just literally bounce off." Sawtooth added.  
"Well, then, we'll find another way to take down this 'Leatherback'." Said Blade. He ducked as a blast of flames rushed past, melting the ground behind him.  
"Watch it!" Warned Harbinger, entering the fray with Ruby's parents, Mr. Threehorn, and Mr. Thicknose. Standing up Blade growled in anger at his attacker.  
"Ground team, full fire!" He yelled. Boulders and rocks of all sizes began to pummel Leatherback as high up as they could be launched, which on him was only along the upper legs and stomach area. The giant dinosaur roared, turning to look down at his attackers and blasting flames at them, sending them all scattering for cover.

Littlefoot ran with Ali, Shorty and Rhett, through the under foliage. He was split between joining the battle and leading the others to safety. He knew if he did the latter, Ali and Shorty would just follow him back into battle when he'd try to leave them in safety. At the sound of running footsteps, Littlefoot turned to see Amber and Drake following them. At about the same time he realized Leatherback was dangerously close.  
"Amber, Drake move!" Shouted Littlefoot. The group was about to run away when they heard loud crunching behind them. Littlefoot turned just in time to see Leatherneck shoot flames out of its mouth at them.


	4. Terror of The Great Valley

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 4: Terror of The Great Valley

The flames bore down on them before they could even scream. Out of the corner of his eyes, Littlefoot saw Blade running towards them. The large sharptooth jumped, rolled, and scooped them out of the way.

"That was way too close for comfort." He said. They saw Leatherback swipe away some attackers with his tail as if they were made of air.

"Can't anything stop him?!" Amber asked.

"We can try again." Answered Shorty. Blade and Littlefoot made to attack from behind, which would've gone better hadn't it been for a certain tail.

"Littlefoot! Look out!" Littlefoot ducked, but the tip of Leatherback's tail caught Blade straight in the chest, taking him into the air. Everyone followed Blade midair progress when the tail reached its highest point, and he continued flying to splash into a lake.

"What does it take?!" He thought, surfacing and shaking water from his head. Scythe and Streakclaw ran forward, holding several tied vines between them. As they approached the giant dinosaur's feet, they split up, each going in a different direction. The vines caught Leatherback's feet. For an instant it seemed to have worked. But suffice to say it didn't work. Instead, as Leatherback took a step forward, the vines went taut, yanking the two sharpteeth and sending them both crashing into the water beside Blade.

"I don't know why I thought that would work." Said Scythe, surfacing and shaking his head clear of water like Blade had moments earlier.

"I don't know why I listened to you." Replied Streakclaw, also surfacing. As the trio made their way from the water, they turned to see Leatherback's eyes glowing red as he glared at a group of flyer. Then to their horror, the massive dinosaur blasted fire from his eyes at the surprised flyers.  
"You gotta be kidding me." Said Blade.

"Hey, I've been thinking." Said Scythe. Blade had run back to help the others and the two fast-biters were currently looking for an opening to attack Leatherback.  
"This better not be another stupid plan." Streakclaw grumbled. The younger sharptooth shook his head.  
"No. It's just, well, if Leatherback just landed here, he probably flew in." Streakclaw turned in shocked realization, upon hearing shouts from the other dinosaurs. Their massive attacker's back was 'opening' and spreading out revealing a large pair of wings, which all had mistaken for his real back.  
"You with your stupid observations!" Said Streakclaw  
"I was just trying to help!" Scythe defended.  
"You could've said something sooner."  
"Oh." As they watched, blue electricity jumped between the tops of its wing connecting the two at the top, with a crackling, sparking sound. Suddenly a blue electrical arc jumped from the center of the current connecting its wings, towards the ground like blue lightning, zapping everything in its path.  
"Guys follow me!" Shouted Littlefoot as he ran by, now equipped with his bone armor.

"This thing is so big, it could probably step on Saurus Rock!" Cera yelled to Ducky as they ran from Leatherback's massive feet, each step it took covering an immense distance.  
"No one is doubting that fact." Said Sawtooth as he pulled the two leaf-eaters to safety. As they moved to safety, Trachor charged Leatherback, ramming its leg and stumbling backwards. As Trachor recovered he saw Leatherback blast fire skywards at some circling flyers. As it did, the magma that made up part of its body seemed to glow an even brighter red and Trachor noticed something seemed…off.  
"Hey did he...?" Asked Harbinger. Trachor nodded. Taking his chances, he charged again with all his strength. He impacted and stumbled away again. But something had happened. There was slight crack in Leatherback's leg where he made contact.  
"Everyone! He weakens when he attacks!" Trachor yelled.

Blade was talking to Doc, Chomper's parents, Littlefoot's grandparents, and Ruby's parents when they heard Trachor shouting.  
"What was that?!" Blade yelled back. Trachor ran up to them and began explaining.  
"When it attacks, its body severely heats up. When that happens, its body plates become malleable." Trachor theorized.  
"And it weakens it, and thus him." Blade concluded.  
"Exactly." Said Trachor.  
"Can we do it?" Blade asked, turning back to the others.  
"We'll all have to work together." Said Grandpa Longneck.  
"I'll coordinate with the other teams. The attack has to be a synchronized as possible. We want heavy hitting, not sporadic bursts." Added Doc. The group looked at their foe, which was moving away from their current location.

Leatherback lumbered in the direction of the Thundering Falls. The giant dinosaur stepped into the water and with a hiss, steam rose from the area. Unfortunately, it appeared Leatherback was burning much hotter than the water could extinguish. Several flyers kept on him, led by Pterano, but they weren't having any effect other than angering their large opponent. Leatherback growled loudly, swiping at the circling flyers. Up on top of the Thundering Falls, Littlefoot, Scythe and Streakclaw ran trying to draw attention to themselves.  
"Over here! Hey!" Littlefoot yelled while the two sharpteeth waved their arms and screeched. The giant dinosaur turned its head to look down at them, and opened its mouth. Littlefoot stopped in surprise that it'd worked. "Move!" The three jumped aside as the blast vaporized the water, turning it to steam. When it ceased, the water began to flow once again in the falls.  
"Did you see that!! He steamed it!" Shouted Scythe.  
"I saw." Said Littlefoot. He transformed into his adult form and moved to set up some trees and boulders, the two sharpteeth following to help. They were just finishing up when Petrie flew up to them.  
"Littlefoot, wait! Don't attack yet!"  
"Petrie, what's going on?"  
"Blade has plan, wait for him say so and attack together."  
"You heard him? Hold fire until Blade gives the orders." Said Littlefoot to make sure the other two had heard. They nodded in affirmative.

"We'll need a diversion if we hope to succeed." Said Bron, looking at Leatherback.  
"But what?" Asked Sawtooth. Suddenly loud cracking was heard as Leatherback tumbled to the ground with a surprised roar, its left foot and ankle disappearing from view, as it crashed through the ground.  
"What?!" Asked Doc in surprise. Poking up from a hole near the trap where Leatherback lay, Big Daddy and his kids cheered.  
"We ran from the last war, but we're not running now!!" Big Daddy yelled at the fallen behemoth. Leatherback lifted itself up with its arms, ripping it leg free of the ground, sending debris flying and the Tinysauruses scurrying. Leatherback turned to look down at them, preparing to fire. The others had their opening but it appeared that it would cost them their friends.  
"Harbinger take over!" Throwing away the opportunity, Blade ran forward and leapt between Leatherback and the Tinysauruses just as the former fired. Blade placed his arms together in front of his face just as the flames engulfed them.  
"No!" The main group shouted in horror.  
"Wait a minute, what's that?!" Asked Drake. Everyone looked at him before turning back and squinting to get a better look. Collectively, all eyes widened as they saw a blue glow inside the continuous stream of fire.

Blade didn't know what was going on. He hadn't given much thought to what he'd gone to do. He'd just gone to save allies. Now he found that there was a blue light coming from just in front of his arms, shielding all of them and deflecting the flames over, to the sides, in every direction. Given where the light was concentrated, logic dictated it was sourcing from him, so he dared not drop his arms for fear that the defense might fail. After a long while Leatherback ceased his attack, size up what had happened. The ground all around Blade and the Tinysauruses had been completely burned away leaving a scorched cavity around the small untouched patch upon which they stood. Moving quickly, Blade put his head to the ground.  
"Hurry, get on my back! And mind my spikes." He said as the Tinysauruses scrambled to safety. Once they were all on, Blade took off running back to the other adults just as Leatherback fired from his mouth, eyes and wings, missing the fleeing dinosaurs but just barely.  
"Thanks stranger." Said Big Daddy to Blade, as he looked back at Leatherback. The annoyed dinosaur roared in frustration. Bending forward to get at the correct level and adjusting his aim to the flyers around his head, Leatherback fired again.  
"Now!" Blade yelled. Everyone began throwing everything they had at it from regular rocks to boulders. Three sets of boulders flew from the top of the Thundering Falls in sequential order every few moments. Leatherback was bombarded from every direction getting hit in the arms, legs, head, back, chest; all over. With each hit, cracks and dents appeared on its body some eventually deep enough, that magma from its body was showing through them. Drawing back up to full height, Leatherback roared in pain, stopping all movement. Its body was badly damaged with cracks and fissures all over.  
"Yah!!" Everyone cheered, congratulating each other.  
"Wait, wait! Something's happening!" Said Sawtooth. As the whole of the valley watched, the magma showing in Leatherback's injuries began to darken and as it did, the damage to its body closed and healed up.  
"What does it take?!" Asked Bron, the look of horror on his face matching everyone else's.

A few miles away from the Great Valley, Ravage stood atop a large hill. To say he was pleased with the turn of events wouldn't be quite right. Sure he hoped the super monstrosity weakened the valley and their dinosaurs. But on the other hand he was furious. If anything took away his pleasure of destroying that valley…  
"Sir! We completed our objective!" Said the lead fast-biter of a small pack, interrupting his thoughts. Each walked up to Ravage and deposited varying sized blue rocks from the tiniest of pebbles to rock that fit comfortably in their closed claws. It wasn't much, and there were only eight of the long-tailed dinosaurs, but Ravage didn't care; every little speck counted.  
"Very good." Ravage turned back to the Great Valley where fires were burning all around and smoke billowed into the skies. "Head deeper into the Mysterious Beyond!" He ordered. With one last glare back at the valley, he followed his group.

Up near the edge of the Thundering Falls, Littlefoot had reverted back to his normal size and was now staring on in shock with Petrie and the two fast-biters.  
"We gotta get down there." He said finally.  
"How do we get down?" Asked Scythe.  
"Jump!" Answered Littlefoot diving into the water below, Petrie clinging tightly to his neck.  
"Is he serious?!" Streakclaw responded by plunging in after Littlefoot. With a low half-groan/half-whimper, Scythe closed his eyes and walked off the edge. Once in the water, they were helped out by Doc and placed on dry land.

The four walked to where Blade and the others seemed to be listening intently to Leatherback's roaring as it continued stomping around. Amber and Drake approached with their herd, all looking up at the monstrosity.  
"Can't you understand what he's roaring about?" Asked Amber.  
"No. It's sharpteeth alright, but it seems…primitive." Blade replied.  
"Figures." Rhett muttered.  
"Can't Littlefoot absorb that thing's energy, you know, and get stronger?" Asked Mr. Threehorn. The adults turned to glare at him.  
"No, that's impossible." Streakclaw answered. "He's way too big. Littlefoot can't hold that much energy."  
"No. But he can channel it off." Said Sawtooth, thoughtfully.  
"Where does he channel it to? We can't disperse it into the sky." Asked Scythe.  
"But we can redirect it into the ground." Added Blade.  
"What are you getting at?" Asked Grandma Longneck.  
"We practiced to try and get me to be able to control the powers I got from the stone." Littlefoot replied.  
"Including manipulating, absorbing and directing energy." Said Blade. Doc frowned.  
"But…"  
"But I need to get into close proximity." Said Littlefoot. Bron shook his head.  
"Absolutely not." He said.  
"How close?" Asked Shorty, afraid he knew the answer. Littlefoot sighed.  
"With that size and that amount of energy… I'd say touching." Bron's face indicated he wasn't about to give any leeway. "Dad, I have to at least try."  
"Littlefoot, that thing…" Bron began.  
"Is going to level the valley if we don't do something." Littlefoot interrupted.  
"We can do this together." Added Shorty. Bron turned to Grandpa Longneck.  
"Believe in your sons." Said the older adult.  
"Alright." Bron gave in. "Just, be careful. Both of you."  
"Okay. Shorty let's go."  
"I'm coming too!" Called Ali. Littlefoot knew better than to argue.  
"We'll take this by steps so we don't get spotted. Use the trees for cover." Said Littlefoot. They wait for Leatherback to turn its head to the adults that were distracting it before they made their move.  
"Alright! Go, go, go, go, go!" Shouted Shorty. Littlefoot ran forward, quickly tailed by his brother. When they reached the first tree, Ali ran forward and after a short hesitation Rhett followed.  
"I know I'm gonna regret this." He said. The other three looked at him.  
"Then why come?" Asked Littlefoot.  
"Because-because I want to be like you." Rhett answered. "Not just a liar, but a real adventurer."  
"Thanks. And good for you." Said Littlefoot. "Alright, the grownups will distract Leatherback so he can't attack lest he can't heal; you guys just keep him busy so I can get close." The three nodded and ran off to try and cut of Leatherback while Littlefoot snuck towards him. He knew he'd have to use some of his energy to keep himself from getting burned, and then work around from there to drain Leatherback.  
"Hey! Big guy, over here!" Called Shorty.  
"Catch us if you can!" Ali yelled.  
"Come on slowpoke!" Rhett added. Leatherback turned his head down to fix them with an angry gaze, opening its mouth as it did. Littlefoot dashed towards him, quickly covering the remaining distance, and placed his open left paw against Leatherback's foot and his open right paw on the ground. Blue light immediately began to pulse through Littlefoot, from Leatherback to the ground. As it did, the ground began to become like cooled lava on the surface volcano.  
"Got 'im !" Littlefoot shouted. As soon as he began to drain Leatherback, the colossus dinosaur stopped as if frozen to the spot. It did however, move its head to glower down at Littlefoot.  
"I think he noticed you!" Yelled Shorty. Leatherback opened its mouth, the interior of which beginning to glow.  
"Get out!" Shouted Rhett.  
"Littlefoot, move away from him!" Ali yelled.  
"I can't go yet! He's still too powerful!" A blue sharptooth ran past leaping at a tree, pushing off towards another, pushing off that one and launching himself towards one of Leatherback's arms. Blade bit down, hanging on with his claws. Leatherback swung its arm attempting to dislodge the sharptooth. Littlefoot knew he was being bought precious time and didn't waste any of it. Taking a glance up, he saw Leatherback hesitated from blasting its own arm to get Blade off. Finally with one violent shake, it managed to send Blade flying. Blade landed on the hard on the ground far away. He groaned painfully and didn't get back up. Littlefoot turned to see Leatherback once again glaring at him. It opened its mouth but nothing came out.  
"It's working!" Drake shouted as he and the others cautiously approached. In almost perfect synchronous, Littlefoot swayed as Leatherback seemed disorientated, all but staggering as it tried to move away. Littlefoot collapsed from the exertion and after a while Leatherback just half crouched, half sat where he stood.

"What's he doing?" Asked Ruby. The large group stood looking confused at their now calmed attacker.  
"Is he sitting?" Asked Chomper.  
"Yeah." Rhett observed. "He's just sitting there." Ali walked over to Littlefoot and nudged him, causing him to groan.  
"Littlefoot? How do you feel?" She asked, leaning close to where he lay.  
"Hot." He replied.  
"We won." Said Rhett.  
"But we destroyed the valley's ground." Said Shorty.  
"On the contrary." Said Bron. "Smoking Mountains are well known for their fertile land."  
"Hey." Said Littlefoot, stopping. "Where's Blade?"  
"Here." He said walking over with some difficulty.  
"You alright?" Asked Sawtooth.  
"Yeah, but I'm gonna feel that hit in the morning."  
"So what's he doing?" Littlefoot asked, turning to look at Leatherback.  
"Not much. Just sitting there now that his energy has been depleted." Doc replied.  
"Hey, maybe that was his problem all along." Suggested Littlefoot.  
"What?" Asked Cera.  
"Excessive energy that needed to burn off." Littlefoot replied.  
"But, why attack Great Valley?"Asked Petrie.  
"Petrie is right. Oh yes, yes, yes, why indeed?" Asked Ducky.  
"Well, depending on which Smoking Mountain he came from, it's very likely that we just had the misfortune of being the first valley he came across." Blade speculated.  
"While it is unfortunate that we were attacked, we had a method to stop him. I'd hate to think what would've happened if he had come across another valley first." Said Littlefoot.

As everyone took to trying to extinguish the fires started in the battle, Littlefoot and friends were confronted by an angry young female.  
"I think you owe us some explanation on what's going on here." Said Amber.  
"Amber…" Drake warned.  
"Why are all these sharptooth here?" Asked his twin, ignoring her brother's tone. "Why didn't they go elsewhere?"  
"During the last war, there were at least five other valleys engaged in major combat against sharpteeth: Shadow Valley, Sun Valley, Paradise Valley, Crimson Valley and Arcane Valley. The five largest valleys nearest ours. However, none of the valleys had a power source to offer, such as the Stone of Cold Fire, and thus were only attacked under Seeker's orders to capture them. After the war, we tried to improve leaf-eater/sharptooth relations by allowing them refuge here with us. Though the war was over, the other valleys weren't so accepting and heavy distrust existed. That is why most sharpteeth came here, and that why I don't doubt that those valleys have gone into war again, as well." Littlefoot answered. "Only the sixth closest valley, Berry Valley, escaped the war altogether."  
"And what was all that stuff with the rocks? And those bones?" She asked indicating Littlefoot's bone armor.  
"We don't have to tell her." Shorty advised, causing the young female to leer menacingly at him.  
"Why bother hiding it now?" Littlefoot asked rhetorically. He flicked a pebble which hit a tree, leaving a larger mark than a pebble that size should've left. "Our strengths are increased by the effects of the Stone of Cold Fire. Not only are we complimented, so are we capable of shooting rocks with incredible power, which further increased as our energy impacts with the rocks when we make contact with it. The Stone of Cold Fire also enhances whatever we are wearing, emanating to incase and empower whatever it might be. Thus our armor is strengthened beyond regular bones. Mine is the strongest one because of the time it spent underwater. The powers of the stone is compounded upon that. On a final note, all our flyers are capable of carrying a much heavier load and still fly well, thanks to the stone. Neat, huh?"  
"So, you're like the strongest one here?" Amber asked with doubt in her voice.  
"No; Blade is." Said Littlefoot.  
"Then how come he doesn't seem to lead as much as you?"  
"Because I can't control my powers." Answered Blade, walking over. "I got all the physical skills, but as for the more intricate stuff such as healing or hyper fast speeds, I can't."  
"How come?" This time, the question had come from Drake and Rhett simultaneously.  
"Because I was born with my powers. These guys weren't. They knew life before it, and knew, felt, what was new; I don't."

"So, all that stuff with the shielding light…"  
"Luck. Probably even a fluke. It just comes sporadically, it's never happened when I actually meant it to."  
"Either than Blade, we all can control our powers, but I have done so the most which is why it is easier for me. Still I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface yet." Finished Littlefoot, walking away.

"Where are you going?" Asked Mr. Threehorn, as Littlefoot passed by him and Tria.  
"I'm going to try to communicate with it." He replied  
"Why?! What do we do if it attacks you?!" Asked Tria.  
"What do we do if we haven't communicated with it, or at least tried to, when it regains its energy?" Littlefoot retorted.  
"Topsy; go with him." Said Tria.  
"Wha-but I…" Mr. Threehorn stopped at the look she was giving him. "Oh alright. But don't bring Tricia out of hiding just yet."

"Hey you!! Yeah, you! The big guy!" Littlefoot yelled up trying to get the massive creature's attention.  
"I don't think he can hear you from down here."  
"That or it's ignoring us." Said Littlefoot. Mr. Threehorn nodded.  
"Then let me help." Said Pterano, landing beside them. Littlefoot climbed onto his back and they flew up near its head.  
"Hey you!" Called Pterano.  
"Over here! Can you hear me?!" Yelled Littlefoot. The enormous head suddenly turned to look at them, white eyes glowing menacingly and so powerfully, they couldn't tell if it had pupils or not.  
"I think he heard you."  
"Yeah."  
"Now what?"  
"I hadn't really planned this far." Littlefoot decided to find someplace to start. "Uh hi. Yeah that didn't start too good. Um, why are you attacking our valley? Is it because of excessive energy?"  
"Does he even understand you?"  
"I'm not sure. Where'd you come from? No? What's your name?" Littlefoot tried in sharptooth language, to no avail.  
"Err…" Pterano hesitated, unsure of their situation.  
"He could be ignoring me." To their surprise Leatherback stood and with a flap of his powerful wings, took to the air flying away from the valley.  
"Huh. Well, it looks like he gave up." Said Pterano.  
"I don't think so. I think he might just be going off to rest."  
"Either way, at least he's gone."  
"Yeah, but I don't think we've seen the last of him.


	5. Discovery

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 5: Discovery

"Look at our valley." Said Grandpa Longneck. They finally extinguished all the flames caused by the fight against Leatherback, three days ago. The valley was scorched, the terrain and walls all badly scarred. But they'd heal. The valley always did, and they knew that.  
"It's to be expected from those sharpteeth. They're all the same." Said Amber. Blade didn't say anything but Shorty opened his mouth to retort angrily, though Littlefoot silenced him before he even got a chance to say anything.  
"Listen, we'd be dead several times over if it weren't for 'those sharpteeth'. It's because of sharpteeth that we're all still here. Sharpteeth trained us, fought with us, bled with us, even died for us. A sharptooth, one of my best friends and mentor, ended the last war by giving his life to stop Seeker. Yes, there are many siding with the wrong group and yes there are many who won't hesitate to attack us, but don't you dare say they're all the same. At the very least show some respect for those helping to protect all of us." With that Littlefoot left, leaving Amber glaring at him. Drake looked at his sister and shook his head.  
"You had that coming." He said.  
"Hmph!" Was all she said.

As Littlefoot walked he reflected on recent events and had an idea. He made his way over to Rhett to confirm his theory.  
"Hey, Rhett! I forgot to ask you before; when your herd came here just now, did they come because they felt like they were being called here?" He asked.  
"Yeah! Actually we did, after we'd split from Ali's herd. But when we got here, the last war had already begun and we were blockaded from the valley. So we retreated deeper into the Mysterious Beyond to await an opportunity."  
"If you were stopped then so may have others." Said Littlefoot.  
"And now with a new war, they'll be stuck outside again." Rhett agreed.  
"Come on, we gotta go tell the others." He said running off to find the others; Rhett following closely.

"Hey guys, if we really wanna face off properly against Ravage, we're going to need everyone who'd gone into the Mysterious Beyond towards the end of the last war." Said Littlefoot as he and Rhett reached the others.  
"Pardon?" Asked Drake, who'd been chatting with Littlefoot's friends.  
"Towards the end of the last war some of our guys left to find reinforcements. Unfortunately, they haven't returned and know we know why." Shorty replied as Littlefoot told of his suspicions.  
"We need find a way to breach Ravage's lines long enough to get a message out to anyone left out in the Mysterious Beyond." He continued.  
"Yes, but we must also be able to hold our place long enough for them to get back into the valley." Shorty added.  
"How many are out there?" Asked Rhett.  
"Let's see… Pat and Sue; Guido, who didn't even participate in the last war; Moe and Elsie…who else?" Littlefoot counted.  
"Tippy and his herd." Said Ducky.  
"Right! Boy how are we gonna get everyone together fast enough so we can get them all in?"  
"Maybe we can send flyers to find them." Petrie suggested.  
"Well sure, if Ravage doesn't figure it out."

The kids went over to Bron, and Sawtooth to tell them of their idea.  
"We'll have to create an opening in Ravage's lines and hold long enough to allow everyone back in." Littlefoot finished.  
"_We_ aren't going anywhere. You kids are staying put. We might be able to handle Ravage, but if we run into Leatherback again, you kids will just be in unnecessary danger.  
"What?!" Shouted the kids.  
"The other grown-ups and I will go into the Mysterious Beyond. You kids will stay here." When they began to argue, he quickly cut them off. "No buts."

The group of adults walked slowly towards the Mysterious Beyond. They'd sent Pterano and several other flyers out to tell anyone they could find to prepare to head to the Great Valley, and were now on their ways to create a route for them. There weren't many of them, most had stayed behind to help anyone who showed up get into the Great Valley.  
"So we've already pushed through the early defensive lines." Bron noted. "And I'm sure they've already told Ravage about our approach."  
"Thanks to Mr. Threehorn." Said Scythe, who was currently the youngest of the group.  
"And you know we're being followed." Added Blade.  
"We're what?!" Asked Bron. He looked at Blade then turned to scan the trees. "Alright you kids! We know you're there!" Nothing happened.  
"You're caught guys!" Called Blade, staring at a nearby wide-trunked tree. From behind it came Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Ali, Shorty, Chomper and Ruby. Littlefoot smiled weakly.  
"Uh, hi."  
"What do you kids think you're doing here?!?!" Yelled Mr. Threehorn, earning him several _shh_ from the others.  
"Daddy, we came to help." Said Cera.  
"Help by staying out of the way and out of danger."  
"You knew they'd come?" Bron asked Blade.  
"I knew they couldn't be stopped that easily."  
"Well if that's everybody…" Bron started turning away.  
"Hold it!" Said Blade, staring at a boulder. "Come out you two." The kids gasped in shock as none other than Amber and Drake emerged from behind the boulder.  
"I told you we shouldn't have come!!" Amber said glaring angrily at her brother. Mr. Threehorn growled angrily.  
"More kids?!"  
"We don't have time to take them back." Said Trachor.  
"Anymore surprises?" Asked Bron.  
"No, that's all of them." Said Blade, continuing on.

The group arrived at a Cliffside overlooking a large lake which was connected to the ocean. Across the water they saw a group of sharpteeth.  
"That's them." Said Littlefoot.  
"And there's Ravage." Said Chomper.  
"I'll go around from behind, try to spy on them." Streakclaw offered.  
"Good idea. Scythe, go with him." Said Littlefoot.  
"Aww! I wanted to fight Ravage, teach them what happens if they attack us." Scythe complained. The others looked at him annoyed, and he finally nodded, relenting.  
The two fast-biters ran across the sand towards the sharpteeth's flank.  
"Keep up!" Streakclaw ordered, bounding effortlessly forward. Scythe was slower as he struggled not to trip in the sand.  
"Waaa!!!" Streakclaw turned around to see Scythe falling through the ground into a hidden cave.  
"You okay?"  
"Yeah, but I can't get out from here. You go ahead, I'll try to find another way out."  
"Be careful. And try not to get eaten!"

"What are they doing? Do we attack?" Asked Drake. The group lay prone, carefully watching the sharpteeth.  
"We won't fight unless we have to. If they don't know we're here, we'll only fight if they leave to try to block our guys from getting through."  
"It's hard to see though." Said Petrie.  
"Be patient." Said Ali. Amber frowned.  
"I'm not waiting around here!" She said rushing to an overhanging ledge.  
"What're you doing?!" Drake hissed.  
"Seeing what the sharpteeth are up too!"She called back.  
"Get her back, Shorty." Said Littlefoot. Shorty sighed but did as instructed.  
"Come on!" Said Shorty as he reached the end of the ledge.  
"I'm just taking the initiative." Said Amber angrily, approaching the edge.  
"Don't go over there!" Ruby yelled. Shorty and Amber looked at her confused.  
"Don't stand there!" Blade shouted.  
"What?!" Shorty yelled back. It was too late as the ledge broke sending the two longnecks into the water.  
"Littlefoot, don't!" Yelled Bron as Littlefoot ran past, ignoring his words and dove in.

From the opposite side Ravage looked on with an evil smirk. Unbeknownst to The Great Valley dinosaurs, he'd been aware of their presence and had been waiting for someone to make a mistake. Just like now. He glanced down at the figure in the water and nodded.  
"You know what to do."

Scythe frowned looking at the strange round objects piled against one of the cave walls. Though his eyes had adjusted as best they could, but it was still too dark to see just what he was looking at. He carefully touched one of the objects and noticed that it was very slimy and seemed to contain many hard stuff, rocks most likely. He knew it was disgusting but his curiosity got the better of him and he took one of the objects in his claws before continuing on, trying to find his way out.

"Come on we have to get out of the water." Said Littlefoot, trying to pull the two with him.  
"She got us into this mess!" Shorty screamed.  
"Not now."  
"What's that?" Asked Amber. Littlefoot and Shorty turned to where she was looking and saw a gray fin heading towards them.  
"Oh no!" Said Shorty.  
"It's Tip-Nose!" Yelled Littlefoot, as they desperately paddled away. Tip-Nose's head rose out of the water, jaws wide open.  
"Come on let's go!" Shorty groaned as he strained against the churning waters. The swimming sharptooth was almost upon them when suddenly another leapt from the water, catching Tip-Nose in the Side with wide open jaws.  
"Wha-?!"Amber looked on confused.  
"Yeah! Grey Fin! Whoo!" Littlefoot cheered.  
"Yeah, haha! Yes!" Laughed Shorty.  
Grey Fin and Tip-Nose swum around each other, trying to get the upper hand. The three Longnecks made it to the cliff edge, and since they couldn't reach up to land, they turned to watch the fight. Suddenly two more fins rose from the water on either side of Grey Fin.  
"Grey Fin! Look out!" Warned Littlefoot. The two closed in, despite the facts that the dinosaurs on the cliff above had begun shooting rocks into the water at them. Even Tip-Nose had taken the opportunity to charge.  
"He won't survive all three!" Said Shorty worried. As the trio of swimming sharpteeth approached, they were interrupted by one of them getting rammed several times by a small purple and yellow swimmer while the other was sent flying by a large green swimming longneck surfacing beneath it.  
"Mo! Elsie!" Yelled Littlefoot.  
"Perfect timing!" Said Shorty. Taking the advantage, Grey Fin met Tip-Nose head on, stopping him in his path. Tip-Nose pulled back to take in the situation. Faced with three opponents and the dinosaurs on the cliff above, he knew he couldn't win now that the odd were even out. Turning tail the three swimming sharpteeth retreated. With the threat gone, Elsie lifted the three longnecks out of the water and up to the cliff.  
"Thanks." Said Shorty. Littlefoot looked around.  
"Hey! Where are Scythe and Streakclaw?" he asked.

Over on the opposite shore Streakclaw waved to Scythe, who'd emerged from the cave, to run fast as he'd exited right among Ravage's forces.  
"Scythe! Get your tail over here!" Streakclaw yelled as Scythe ran towards him, avoiding attacks left and right.  
"I thought you were going to spy on them?!" Scythe managed as he reached Streakclaw and the two took off towards their group, chased by Ravage and his sharpteeth.  
"I was! But you kinda ruined it!" The two didn't have to run far for the Great Valley dinosaurs had rushed in to help them and now clashed with the sharpteeth.  
"There you are traitor!" Said Ravage, lunging at Trachor's neck. The gray sharptooth stepped back, kicking out and catching Ravage in the chin.  
"Don't underestimate me." Said Trachor. Ravage ground and lunged again. Before he reached Trachor, Ravage was rammed by Blade and sent crashing into a tree. He quickly recovered, leaping to his feet and head-butting Blade, pushing the other sharptooth back. Blade managed to get his arms on Ravage's head, and setting his feet, managed to stop the push. Taking advantage of Ravage's precarious imbalance, Blade push his arms down to the left while side stepping right, sending the black and silver sharptooth crashing to the ground.  
"We're out numbered! Return to the Great Valley!" Said Littlefoot. He saw a sharptooth throw something and suddenly with a loud _boom_, dirt flew everywhere.  
"What was that?!" Asked Shorty in surprise.  
"Never mid! Retreat!!" Littlefoot yelled over the commotion.

"Everyone, fall back into the valley!" Shouted Trachor. They managed to fight back to the valley, where the others could join them and help them back into the valley. As the Great Valley dinosaurs retreated into the safety of their valley. Ravage stopped, breathing heavily and growling as he did. His sharpteeth could get into the valley, but it would be unwise to proceed in while not at full fighting strength.  
"Next time. Next time." He growled, turning to head back into the Mysterious Beyond.

"So what did we learn from this excursion?" Littlefoot asked.  
"Amber is too impatient for anyone's health." Said Shorty, causing Amber to shoulder him roughly as she walked past.  
"Not what I meant." Said Littlefoot.  
"Ravage's forces are still too thin. Perhaps a quick victory would be in our favor?" Drake offered. Littlefoot nodded.  
"They were also preventing us from getting outside help." Added Cera.  
"We'll have to deal with this decisively or it might turn into a bigger problem." Said Chomper.  
"Ravage might be at a disadvantage with numbers, but this proves he is still dangerous." Said Ruby.  
"Agreed. Said Littlefoot. As they continued talking, Sawtooth walked up with news.  
"Good news everyone. Everyone we had outside the valley managed to return safely, and we also managed to get several other nearby herds in as well" He announced, causing the kids to cheer.  
"But what about Grey Fin?" Asked Ducky, remembering he couldn't stay in the Great Valley's waters.  
"He retreated to safety and awaits being needed again." As the others nodded, Scythe approached the group.  
"Littlefoot, sir, I found something in this cave I feel into." Scythe showed them all the round object he'd taken from the cave.  
"What is it?" Asked Rhett looking closely at it. Scythe shrugged.  
"I don't know." Answered Littlefoot. "Interesting discovery; we'll have the grown-ups look into it."

"So how'd you like that adventure?" Asked Shorty, once most of the others had left to head back to their nests. Only he, Littlefoot, and Blade remained along with Amber and Drake.  
"It was awesome!" Said Drake.  
"This was all a fine mess we wound up in because of sharpteeth." Said Amber, walking away while Drake just rolled his eyes and followed her.  
"Hey-!" Shorty called warningly but decided to let it go. Littlefoot looked up to see Blade frown and shake his head.  
"She might apologize." He said  
"I won't hold my breath." Blade replied. It wasn't in irritation or anything just a knowledgeable acceptance.  
"Yeah, me neither." Littlefoot agreed.


	6. Out On The Lakeside

Author's Note: Okay, I know I've been trying to keep an updating pattern of one chapter every 10 or so days, writing a bit each day, with an extra day or two for additional editing; so you might be wondering why this took so long. I was delayed a lot because of guests over and I planned to have it done by Saturday. But the truth is I completely forgot, until yesterday afternoon when my cousin, searching through music on my laptop played one of the songs that reminded me I had a chapter to finish. Now before I get accused of forgetting because of irresponsibility or not caring, let me explain. On Saturday, two friends of my family were killed when their police helicopter was shot down in Rio and just yesterday (Monday, as it is now midnight Wednesday), a third died of his injuries; so my mind has just kind of been in space for this time, until yesterday with the music from the series. Which is why it's now after midnight that I'm finally done with this chapter, as I took the time today to try and make this chapter feel better. Again, sorry for the delay. I'll try to get back on track and get my timing back correctly for the next chapters. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope it seems to flow better to all of you then it does to me (it feels a little off).  
Land Before Time: Remnants  
Chapter 6: Out On The Lakeside

It was early morning when Littlefoot awoke to Scythe tapping him on the shoulder. Ali also woke up.  
"What is it?" He asked.  
"Sir, we have something about that object I took from Ravage's team."  
"And?" Asked Ali.  
"Uh, come see for yourselves." The two young longnecks got up and followed him to where the others were gathered.

"As you'll recall, Scythe managed to steal this from Ravage; which we have since been studying" Said Sawtooth, indicating the object. It was a ball of meat and fat stuffed together with rocks and a small vine leading into it.  
"Well, what is it?" Asked Littlefoot as he stood beside the others.  
"We don't know." Said Scythe.  
"Oy." Said Shorty.  
"Fully." Added. Streakclaw.  
"But we've dubbed it an exploder. And it would appear that it is not new to sharpteeth. They must've been developed during the last war. Do you recall if it was ever used?" Said Trachor.  
"What does it do?" Asked Shorty.  
"Er… explode." Scythe answered.  
"Oh."  
"The last war…" Said Littlefoot. Then it hit him.

(Flashback)

Littlefoot ran through the bedlam, looking for Seeker, and helping out wherever he could. Everyone seemed to be grappling with an opponent, clawing, kicking, and throwing each other into the air. Littlefoot heard the sound of an explosion and felt a small shockwave hitting him. Looking back he saw a cloud of dust rising skyward.

"What the-?" He thought. He thought what about what it could've been but, the sound of battle brought him back to the present and he decided to ponder over it later.

(End Flashback)

"Huh. Apparently it came about to late in the war to help out Seeker. But Ravage seems to be planning on using it extensively." Said Trachor when Littlefoot told them what he remembered.  
"How does it work?" Littlefoot asked.  
"Remember what you told us about how you escaped from that smoking mountain, while searching for that fake Stone of Cold Fire? More or less same principles. Only compacted and not directed in any one particular direction." Said Streakclaw.  
"We weren't able to learn much, lest we damage the one we have, but we did manage to create two prototypes."  
"Well let's see them." Said Littlefoot.

The group walked over to where their own versions of the exploder were waiting to be tested.  
"Oh that's just disgusting." Said Cera as the small group regarded the two round objects that sat on a boulder in a small clearing. They looked exactly like the one Scythe had taken.  
"Nobody is disagreeing with you on that." Said Littlefoot, as he and Ali cringed slightly. Sawtooth nodded.  
"Reminds me of when Seeker burned that cave."  
"Do we even wanna know where you got the stuff to make those?" Asked Shorty.  
"Don't ask." Streakclaw, Scythe and Harbinger advised at the same time.  
"Well just, let's see if they work." Said Blade. Streakclaw grabbed two rocks and struck them together, creating a spark that ignited the small vine on one of the exploders.  
"Alright everyone behind the trees; we have no idea how powerful these things will be." Said Trachor. Everyone went over to the tree line and got behind a couple of trees, peering out at the exploder.  
"3… 2… 1…" Scythe counted down. A second passed. Then another. Nothing happened.  
"Uhh…" Said Streakclaw staring at the object.  
"Well that was bad." Said Blade, unimpressed.  
"Yeah, powerful." Cera scoffed.  
"It's compacted too tightly, it won't go." Sawtooth guessed.  
"Okay try the second." Said Harbinger. Streakclaw made a face as he tossed aside the failed exploder and put the second in its place.  
"Alright, let's try this again." He said using rock sparks to set it off again, before heading back to the trees. They all looked patiently on; waiting. With a tiny pfft, the exploder seemed more to come apart than actually explode. Everyone blinked.  
"What was that?!" Said Shorty incredulously.  
"I believe that one might not have been compressed enough." Said Littlefoot.  
"Indeed." Trachor agreed.  
"Now what?" Asked Petrie.  
"Ravage has more of these, undoubtedly functional. We need to steal or destroy their cache."  
"So we're going back out for what Scythe found?" Asked Ducky.  
"It might be worse than we thought. We know Ravage is after fragments of the Stone of Cold Fire. If he uses them with his exploders, we could be looking at a disasterous outcome."  
"I have no uncertainty he will use them; given his diminished numbers" Said Sawtooth.  
"Try to scare up some support." Added Harbinger.  
"Then we're going back out!" Yelled Littlefoot to get the others' attention. "Ali, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Ruby, Chomper, Shorty and Rhett will come along with Scythe, Streakclaw, Trachor and Blade. Sawtooth, see if you and Harbinger can fix our exploders are come up with a work around. Ask the other grownups for help if need be." Everyone nodded, before moving out.

"Well, here we are, out on the lakeside." Said Rhett.  
"And here it is." Said Scythe pointing from the head of the group.  
"Hmm. This could be a problem." Said Shorty. Blade and Trachor ducked their heads down to see inside.  
"Uh…" Said Blade, looking into the cave. He and Trachor exchanged a glance. "I don't think we'll fit in there."  
"They're too big." Said Ali.  
"Perhaps you can guard the entrance by staying out here and guarding it." Ruby suggested.  
"Good idea. We'll make sure no one gets in." Said Trachor.

The gang had been walking in the dark for a good fifteen minutes now and still no signs of enemy sharpteeth or any exploders..  
"You sure this is the right cave?"Asked Ali.  
"Uhh, I think so." Said Scythe, a little unsure himself. Streakclaw rolled his eyes.  
"Yes it is." He said. Littlefoot pulled up short, halting the others as well.  
"What?" Asked Rhett. Littlefoot didn't answer; he just stood there scanning the darkness.  
"Littlefoot…?" Ruby cautiously asked.  
"It's too quiet." A sudden chuckle caused them all to gas and turn towards the sound.  
"How very perceptive." Said Ravage emerging from the shadows. Several sharpteeth appeared alongside him. They'd walked right into a trap!  
"Run!" Littlefoot shouted. "Back to the entrance!"  
"Get them." Ravage said venomously to his forces as the kids split up, taking various routes.

Ducky ran as fast as she could. She'd been separated from the others in the darkness and now found herself running blindly through a tunnel. All around, she could hear the roars and screeches of sharpteeth in other tunnels echoing through her own.  
"We are in trouble! We are, we are!" She said to herself. Up ahead, light was coming around the corner. Another exit. Ducky rounded the corner and was hit by something scaly. A tail. She was just able to make out an open mouthed sharptooth, before she began to fall towards its waiting jaws.  
"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" She screamed.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" Ducky's screams resounded outside. Blade and Trachor looked at each other, eyes wide, before rushing into the cave. As they ran, half crouching, trying to make their way as quickly as possible, they were almost immediately beset by other sharpteeth. A Fast Biter leapt at Trachor, who caught it in his mouth. With a flick of his head, he sent it flying into the others, bowling them over. Beside him Blade stepped by one of the larger sharpteeth, slashing it with the spike on his right arm, and turned just as a second lunged at him. He caught its open jaws and yanked the sharptooth the ground on its back, dropping down and elbowing it on its exposed neck. The sharptooth gave a gargled roar before going still.  
"No time to clean up, we have to keep moving!!" Said Blade.

Ducky closed her eyes, hoping the sharptooth would swallow rather than chew. She was inches from death when the sharptooth was rammed aside and she was plucked from the air and gently placed on the ground  
"Wow, thanks." Said Ducky. She looked up and gasped. In the light of the exit, she could see that her rescuer was a large sharptooth of the same kind as Chomper, only pale orange with blue stripes.  
"Run!" It said. Ducky did so without hesitation.

Shorty and Rhett ran along with Spike through a winding tunnel.  
"Where's the exit?!" Shouted Rhett.  
"I don't know!" Shorty replied.  
"Eeerrrrhhhh!!!!" Spike groaned. The trio ran into antechamber and collided with something.  
"Oof!" They say as they all fell down.  
"Littlefoot?"  
"Shorty?  
"Ali?"  
"Cera?"  
"Petrie?"  
"Rhett?"  
"Scythe?"  
"Streakclaw?"  
"Spike?  
"Errh?"  
"Ruby?  
"Cera?"  
"Chomper?"  
"Ouch!"  
"I think we're all here." Said Littlefoot.  
"But, where is Ducky?" Asked Petrie.  
"You won't have to worry about your friend for much longer." Growled a large sharptooth as it and its friend appeared. The kids gasped, huddling close together as the two sharpteeth stalked around them. A large, pale orange sharptooth suddenly jumped over the group, landing between them and the sharpteeth. It kicked one of the sharpteeth in the shin, and tail whapped the other in the face. They roared charging to engage the newcomer in battle. The Great Valley group watched as the orange sharptooth fought off the others.  
"Wow, that's some impressive skills!" Said Shorty.  
"Whoa! He's good!" Said Rhett.  
"She's a female." Said Ducky, coming back to help the others.  
"What?!" Said the two together.  
"Ducky!!" Said the others rushing over to her. The greeting was interrupted by a roar as the female sharptooth knocked her two opponents aside.

One of the sharpteeth moved to get up but was rammed by Trachor. Help had finally found the right way through all the screaming. As Blade emerged, the female sharptooth, mistaking him for an enemy, tackled him to the ground. Blade gave a low roar and before they'd even stopped, positioned himself so he placed a foot on her and tossed her off. The female sharptooth slammed into the cave wall and began to scramble to her feet but Blade was much faster. He pinned her with the long spike on his left arm, while moving to strike with the claws on his right.  
"Blade, wait! She's on our side!" Called Littlefoot, causing the large sharptooth to pull his blow. Blade growled, but released her none the less.  
"Thanks." She said.  
"Sorry we didn't have a chance to tell you sooner Blade." Said Littlefoot walking over. The female sharptooth turned to Littlefoot and the others.  
"Hello. My name is Senka." She said introducing herself.  
"Hello Senka. Thanks for helping us." Said Littlefoot. Blade's eyes narrowed. Something was off; he's just couldn't pinpoint quite what. Trachor saw and nearly groaned.

"Lighten up. She helped us." Said Trachor. Blade growled.  
"Perhaps." He said.

"Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Called Scythe, stopping and moving of towards one of the walls. They were in another chamber, proceeding towards the entrance.  
"What now?!" Asked Shorty, impatiently.  
"The exploders!" He said.  
"Ah! That is a good name for them." Once more everyone whirled around.  
"Ravage!" Blade roared.  
"I see you've got some help." Said Ravage, causing Senka to growl. A large sailback stepped forward, while a Fast Biter made its way carefully towards them, seeking an opening.  
"Make this fast." Whispered Littlefoot.  
"Will do." Blade rushed forward, jumped, spun and kicked out, his foot colliding with the sailback's chest. It slamed into a wall, dazed. Blade took this moment to bring his arm in front of him, forming an X, and swiped them down. As his claws hit each other, in the familiar move, sparks were sent at the sailback. It was distracted long enough for Blade to slice its neck with the spike on one of his arms. The Fast Biter's gaze fell upon the massed exploders, its eyes widened and it gave a startled screech before running out of the caves screeching to high heaven. Everyone looked over to see that the sparks had accidently ignited the exploders.  
"**Fools!**" Roared Ravage, as he rapidly retreated. Even he knew better than to stay.  
"Everybody get out!!!" Shouted Littlefoot. "Go! go! go! go! go!"  
"Let me just get one more exploder." Said Scythe heading towards the pile.  
"No time!" Shouted Streakclaw. Still the young Fast Biter persisted.  
"Move Scythe!!" Said Trachor, yanking him away by the tail. They all crowded through the tunnels, rushing to get out as fast as possible. They burst from the cave, out the tunnel they'd used to get in and ran across the beach, trying to get as much distance between the cave and them as possible,  
"Go, go! Move!!" Shouted Blade. Behind them a super large explosion sounded throwing sand everywhere. Everyone slammed into the ground as the shockwave hit them.

On another side of the lake by the cave Ravage and his forces regrouped in the shadows of the trees.  
"Hmm. They know about our weapons and manage to destroy one of our stockpiles." Ravage said, more to himself. He grinned despite what happened. "But no matter. They still haven't figure out our secret plan." He looked up at a large figure floating beside them in the lake.

The group was back home by the afternoon. When they finally made it back into the valley, they were met by Sawtooth and Harbinger who hadn't found much more. Though it wasn't good news, they had another ally. Everyone in the Great Valley had gathered around to greet Senka and hear her stories. Well, almost everyone. Up on a hill overlooking the scene was the missing.  
"Sharpteeth." Said Amber, seething slightly. She was standing away from the large group, on that hill.  
"You know, for once, I agree with you." Said Blade, startling the young dinosaur. He looked on, alert and wary. Amber hadn't even noticed him there, so focused had she been in her anger. Now she was surprised.  
"Y-you do?" Asked the young longneck, obviously confused. Blade nodded.


	7. Branimir

Quick Note: Upon suggestion by Jakayrta, I have gone back to the old format. I hope this makes it easier for you guys to read if you thought the new way was problematic.

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 7: Branimir

Blade stood near the Thundering Falls, deep in thought as he watched the water crash into the plungepool at its base.

"Hey, Blade, what's going on?" Asked Sawtooth.

"Thinking." Was the short reply.

"Why don't you trust Senka?" Asked Scythe. Sawtooth frowned at the younger sharptooth's directness.

"Don't you think her arrival was a little too convenient?"

"Yeah, but, didn't most of us come around like that? I mean other then Sawtooth, Trachor and I, that was like everyone, yourself included."

"Yes, but we knew where to be. We were forewarned and we planned. Yet, she just happens to show up?"

"She was there, and she was angry." Sawtooth frowned, starting to see Blade's point.

"Uh-uh." Blade shook his head.

The Great Valley stood gathered as they debated on how to take the volcano that Ravage was using to create his exploders. They only knew of it because Senka had revealed its location.

"Look, all this yammering is getting us nowhere. I say we charge in there and take them all out!" Said Mr. Threehorn angrily.

"Now Mr. Threehorn, we can't rush headlong into a battle without a plan." Said Grandpa Longneck.

"There is something else to worry about first." Said Senka, speaking up for the first time since the debates started. Everyone turned to look at her.

"What?" Littlefoot asked curiously.

"A massive long-necked swimmer. Ravage plans to use him to gain control of the waterways."

"Of course! He can't hold a challenge on the ground, and we break even in the air; but our aquatic forces are pretty much none existent." Noted Trachor.

"He can take the waters all but uncontested." Added Cera.

"So what we do?" Asked Petrie.

"Take him out." Senka replied simply causing Petrie and Ducky to gasp.

"Whoa! Hold on! I don't think we're quite at that point." Said Littlefoot. "I suggest we first learn about this swimmer and see if there is a nonlethal way to combat him."

"As you wish."

"Now, what marine forces do we have available?"

"Elsie and Mo. Ducky's family and other valley swimmers. Grey Fin, if need be." Answered Ali with a shrug.

"That's good. For a one-sided massacre." Said Shorty sarcastically. Littlefoot frowned at him.

"I think we may have underestimated Ravage's cunning. He's massing on our weak point." Said Sawtooth.

"Perhaps that's why he wanted functional exploders. And the pieces of the Stone of Cold Fire." Added Scythe.

"Take us out in one decisive move." Streakclaw finished.

"They're still more useful on the ground, but I agree but the one decisive move." Said Trachor.

"He could've been thrown by Senka joining us. And there is still a wild element, which possibly threw him as well: Leatherback." Said Shorty.

"True, but remember wild is key, he'll probably attack both sides, so we can't count him in our favor unless we can set a trap that leads Ravage and his force to him, or vice versa." Said Littlefoot.

"Paradise Valley is located by very big, big water. Can we ask them for help?" Suggested Ducky.

"They've got their own battles. It's best not to bother any of the other valleys unless we absolutely need to." Sawtooth replied.

"It seems that a preemptive strike may be inevitable, if we wish to survive." Said Harbinger. Blade stood, silent eyes narrowed as he rapidly went over various plans in his head. He knew they could counter an initial assault, as the sharpteeth could take the waters but be unable to push in land, but neither would the Great Valley be able to deal a decisive blow and the sharpteeth would be able to hold out and win in the long run. Any move the valley decided on would need to have an immediate effect.

Littlefoot and friends had stayed behind after everyone had left to find out the exact location of the swimming longneck from Senka.

"So, where is he at, big water?" Cera asked impatiently.

"No; that would be too obvious. He's in a small hidden lake with underwater access to big water."

"We know; we've been there." Said Cera. Senka shook her head.

"Cera, they would not keep him in the same lake, they wouldn't." Said Ducky.

"She's right, he moves around sure, but he hides somewhere else entirely." She was just finishing telling him when someone suddenly began to shout.

"Fire! Fire outside the valley!" Many if not all the dinosaurs went to the tops of the valley walls to look at where all the smoke was coming from. All the trees for several yards outside the Great Valley were on fire. Several sharpteeth could just be made out, scuttling away.  
"They're burning the trees." Said Littlefoot. "Why?"

"Cover, food you name it. They can keep a better eye on us." Said Trachor.

"This is getting out of hand. We have to move now." Said Harbinger.

"I just suggest we split our forces this time. We need to make sure the valley is safe." Said Blade.

"These guys are seriously bad news. We have to be excessively cautious." Said Guido.

"He's right. Are you sure it's a good idea to split the valley?" Said Littlefoot. Blade closed his eyes in thought.

"No. But good timing hardly ever happens at the time we need it to."

Littlefoot walked in the middle of the group heading into the Mysterious Beyond. He looked around seeing the all the burnt out remains of trees, the smell of burnt wood assaulting his, as well as everyone else's, nostrils.

"Careful, they're out here somewhere." Said Streakclaw.

"They shouldn't. The area is way out of their way." Said Senka. They walked for another thirty minutes with nothing happening. By now, the trees around them were lush and full, obviously untouched by the flames close to the valley, and the whole area was heavily shadowed by the overhanging canopy of the trees. Littlefoot the stopped when he thought he'd heard a slight _crack_ of a twig. He carefully looked all around him, expecting to be attacked at any moment. Nothing seemed off, however, and he prepared to move off. He was just about to continue on when he dropped to the ground, a rock flying through the area where his head had been a split second earlier.

"Ambush!" Blade roared, not missing a beat as he turned to face an on rushing sailback head on. He tossed his attacker aside then gather with the others as they backed together, facing all directions to see that they were trapped.

"What, do these guys know our every move?" Asked Scythe.

"Looks like we're surrounded once more." Said Blade.

"Just the way we like it." Said Littlefoot.

"Speak for yourself."

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Out sick." Was the sarcastic response.

"We don't get sick anymore. You could never get sick at all."

"Hold them off!" Shouted Sawtooth. "Someone go look for that swimmer!" As the two sides engaged, trying to block each other, Littlefoot managed to break away from the group and ran into the woods.

"Shorty! Follow me! We're going to look for that swimmer." He called back. The two ran into the trees, Littlefoot going by Senka's directions. Ravage turned and growled seeing the two running longnecks. As he turned back however, he saw Blade thrust out his right arm. Ravage quickly dodged his claws, but the spike on Blade's arm slit his cheek. Growling angrily, Ravage stared down his opponent, ignoring the blood that was freely trickling down his cheek or the stinging from the lacerated muscles.

"Your fight's with me." Blade rumbled, low and threatening. Ravage respond by snapping his jaws menacingly as he growled.

"Where-?" Asked Shorty, stopping and turning a full 360°.

"Should be around here somewhere." Said Littlefoot, continuing on. When Littlefoot and Shorty finally arrived at a lake, both were well out of breath. As they caught their breaths, they looked around to see that that the area was dark due to the clutter of trees around the lake and a mist seemed to permanently hang around. Still, there was no swimmer in sight.

"They knew we were coming, they set an ambush!" Shouted Shorty, when they had rested enough.

"But how...?!" Asked Littlefoot, already afraid of the answer.

"Blade must have been right! Senka might have-" He cut himself off as really long neck emerged from the water followed by a large body. Because of the shadows, they could only see his outline. "Whoa-hoho!! Look at the size of that swimmer!!" Said Shorty. He and Littlefoot stood frozen in place at the size of the large swimmer.

"He's bigger than Elsie." Said Littlefoot in shock. It'd be no use transforming, the looming swimmer would still easily tower him. The swimmer brought its head the near them as if to take a closer look.

"Run!!!" Shouted Shorty turning tail and running from the area. Littlefoot looked at his retreating form in shock then turned back to the swimmer, who was slightly obscured by the darkness.

"Heheheh." He laughed nervously before running after Shorty.

Ravage emerged from the trees, bleeding profusely from a cheek. He looked beyond furious but seemed to be trying to collect himself. More or less.

"Blast that freak Sharptooth!!" He roared.

"I was seen." Said the swimmer without the usual deference sharpteeth presented around Ravage. The black and silver Sharptooth regarded him.

"So they've seen you Branimir. That's not all too bad; they should know fear before they die."

Littlefoot and Shorty had run all the way back to the valley and were exhausted. The others had already returned too. Shorty straightened up, pretending to not have been running. Shorty turned to look at Littlefoot.

"Ravage'll never win, because we're always one step ahead." He said in one quick breath, lest he'd pant. Littlefoot stared incredulously at his brother.

"What's he on about?" He thought. "We failed." They had turned tail and run at almost immediately after the swimmer had appeared. So much for learning, all they knew was his size.

"Did you do it?" Asked Doc turning towards them. Littlefoot shook his head. Clearing his dry throat, he called everyone to pay attention.

"Pterano, find Grey Fin. See if he can rally support from some sharpteeth dissidents. We need to prepare for the inevitable move into aquatic combat. Remember everyone, they may have found an advantage, but they're still only remnant forces and they're spread between fighting on six fronts." Everyone nodded and Pterano took off to do as asked. Littlefoot turned to see his friends approaching.

"Well, now what? We were ambushed, but Senka didn't lie. The Swimming Longneck was there." Shorty stated. "We saw him for ourselves."

"Apparently we underestimated Ravage's guile. He must have set that trap when Senka joined us to try and frame her." Said Littlefoot.

"I think Sawtooth said that much earlier." Said Scythe.

"He's trying to turn us against our allies. But we won't let that happen." Said Ali. "Thanks for your help Senka."

"Anytime." She replied. Blade turned around and leaned his back against a tree.

"Hmm." He growled lowly, narrowing his eyes in thought.


	8. Betrayal

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 8: Betrayal

Ravage stood on the banks of the lake that Branimir currently resided in, thinking. It was later on the same day that Branimir had been discovered by Littlefoot and Shorty. The black and silver Sharptooth narrowed his eyes as a plan formed in his mind.

"Branimir, we're going to going to have to relocate you."

"As you wish." The Massive swimmer replied. Ravage nodded, satisfied with the response. He looked over and the group gathered by the trees awaiting his orders.

"You two!" He suddenly yelled to the two closest sailbacks in his forces. Step up front!" The duo did as told and waited while Ravage seemed to finish deciding on what he wanted. "We're moving up our plans. There are a couple of guests I wish you to retrieve for me."

"Just go up and tell him what's up." Shorty was saying to Littlefoot. They were in the Great Valley, about three days after finding Branimir and reporting their discovery. Pterano still hadn't returned.

"This is Blade we're talking about! I don't have to mention how Senka is really involved in it; he'll figure it out for himself!" Littlefoot countered what was in his opinion a dimwitted idea.  
"Seriously it's a sure-fire way to get them to cooperate."

"Have lost your so-called mind?!" Littlefoot almost shouted. "How in the name of everything that is righteous and sane do you expect to succeed?! Have you not been paying attention to what's been going on?!"

"Come on, try it! We'll never know otherwise."

"No!"

"Try it."

"No!"

"Try."

"No!"

"Try!"

"No!"

"Tr-"

"Would you give it a rest!" Shorty looked shocked then got a devious idea.

"Try, try, trrryyy. Try." He repeatedly whispered in Littlefoot's ears, no matter which way the other longneck turned. "Try, try."

"Oh my goodness!!" Littlefoot finally lost it, causing Ali who was nearby to giggle. "If I do it will you shut up?!"

"Sure." Littlefoot frowned but left to find Blade anyway.

Littlefoot found the sharptooth, inspecting some caves in the valley to see if Ravage's forces could into the Great Valley through there.

"Good morning Littlefoot." Said Blade. Littlefoot hadn't made a sound and his scent was downwind from Blade. Still the young longneck knew the large sharptooth was to good a sharptooth to not sense his presence.

"Hey Blade? I was thinking…"

"About?" Asked Blade, looking down at him. Littlefoot hesitated, trying to figure how to put Shorty's ridiculous plan into words.

"Oh this is gonna fail so badly." Littlefoot thought to himself. Out loud he said, "Eh- well, um Senka is a really attractive sharptooth and you know, she doesn't have a mate."

"Need I remind you that you are with Ali. Not to mention you're a different species from Senka, and much younger."

"Wha-?" Said Littlefoot, his face taking on a stupefied look. "No! That's not what I meant!" Blade turned back to Littlefoot, lowering his head to the longneck level.

"Why are you bothering _me_ with this?"

"Because Scythe and Streakclaw are a different species, Sawtooth's old-er, and Trachor has a mate in the Mysterious Beyond. I think."

"Then take this to Harbinger."

"He's too preoccupied with the war."

"And I'm not?"

"Err…"

"Why is it that you're bothering me with this?" Blade asked again, eyeing him sharply. Littlefoot grinned innocently. He should've known he couldn't get anything past Blade.

"Well, uh…it's, uh…"

"Well?" Littlefoot sighed, giving up.

"It's because you are the only one who doesn't get along with her."

"I knew it." Blade said rolling his eyes.

"We need everyone working together."

"That won't be a problem. I just don't trust her."

"But how can you work together if you don't trust her?"

"By being wary and cautious."

As Littlefoot lay down beside a tree to think, he witnessed a scene that just confirmed what he thought. The day before, Blade, Harbinger, Scythe and Streakclaw had been training together and performing advanced maneuvers that involved a lot of twists, turns, good balance and relying on those around. Senka joined them though Blade remained silent. During one of the maneuvers, Blade readjusted himself, so he wouldn't be in the usual position that would have had him relying on Senka. Though Blade, Streakclaw and Harbinger were able to compensate, Scythe and Senka both missteped and fell. Scythe escaped okay, but the much taller Senka could've been injured. Right now, Blade trudged towards the river but a certain orange Sharptooth intercepted him, blocking his path.

"The others trust me, so why can't you?" Senka asked, confronting Blade. The powerful sharptooth turned to glare at her.

"Trust is earned, not given." He growled. Senka frowned but let him past as he continued on.

Littlefoot let out a frustrated groan. Blade was right, Senka was right; they were all right. Now if there could only be an agreement or something. He knew he had to understand sharpteeth a lot better to resolve this. And perhaps it'd be best to ask an older sharptooth.

"Sawtooth, what do you think about Senka?" Littlefoot asked Sawtooth.

"Senka? Why?" Asked Sawtooth.

"Blade doesn't trust her, but even he doesn't know why. She's been great to everyone but, I don't know, we need everyone at their best and Blade is, but how can I be sure it won't affect his performance?"

"Blade letting something like that affect his performance is the last thing you should be worried about. I even I know him well enough to tell you that. As for Senka, everyone deserves a chance. She helped us a lot and has given us no reason to be suspicious. I say we give her a chance to prove herself."

"I see." Sawtooth began to walk away then stopped and turned to Littlefoot again.

"However…when have any of us ever known Blade to be wrong?"

Littlefoot regarded Senka as Ducky and her siblings slid down her back. He didn't know much about sharpteeth, but she was attractive by regular dinosaurs' standards and perhaps in more so by sharpteeth standards. Still, Blade wasn't stupid, nor was he one to bother with nonsense. If he said something was off, you'd better believe it. Still, Senka had already proven herself like all the others. He sighed. It wasn't so much Senka he was worried about then it was Blade inadvertently being alienated by the others, if they decided not to listen to him because of what he thought of Senka, especially if he was wrong. The large Sharptooth was still the best they had, despite Blade's claims that he, Littlefoot, was better.

"Hey Littlefoot, there's a small contingency of sharpteeth gathered along the edges of what remains of the trees outside the valley." Said Streakclaw as he approached where the young longneck lay thinking.

"Is Ravage with them?" Littlefoot asked, coming out of his thoughts.

"It doesn't appear so."

"Alright, then we'll prepare a small group to head out to investigate their intentions. Please assemble the others." Streakclaw nodded and left.

Since the group of gathered sharpteeth wasn't deemed too big a threat, the team was small, other than Littlefoot and Shorty, only Blade, Scythe, Streakclaw and Harbinger were going; Blade only on the remote chance that Ravage was there. Everyone else was to remain in the valley unless help was requested, in case this was a trap and the valley was attacked. Still, at this point they weren't sure if they had everyone they would need on the team yet. Harbinger stood by waiting for Blade to ask Senka if she was coming along. Shorty had told him about the rather stupid plan, though he hadn't heard the end result. When Blade walked past without a word, he got an annoyed look on his face and decided to ask her himself.

"You coming?"

"Maybe next time. I sprained my ankle and need to rest a bit." Senka replied. Harbinger nodded before walking over to Shorty and leaning down to talk to him where Senka wouldn't overhear.

"It didn't work." It was a statement.

"Eh, no." Said Shorty. Harbinger didn't look surprised. As the group went over final preparations, Amber and Drake approached.

"Drake, Amber, would you care to come?" Asked Littlefoot, since they'd missed the last two engagements. Might as well ask them as Rhett had already stated he'd sit this out, and Hyp, Nod, and Mutt were too exhausted from having stayed up last night on guard duty, despite that no one asked them too. Drake looked at Amber, almost begging.

"Oh fine! As long as we get to beat on sharpteeth." She finally caved, rolling her eyes and walking away.

"What's her problem?" Asked Senka causing Littlefoot to shrug.

"Littlefoot be careful." Said Guido.

"Don't worry, if all goes quickly we should be back by nightfall."

"Hit those remnant sharpteeth once for us." Said Ruby, causing Littlefoot to chuckle.

"Will do."

The eight Great Valley dinosaurs arrived at the edge of the burnt out forest about thirty minutes after they had left the valley walls. As they stopped on a small dirt mound an looked out towards the trees, they say the sharpteeth lined side by side among the trees.

"Weird." Said Littlefoot. "Does this group seem a bit small?"

"It looks like there's about twenty of them." Shorty counted.

"Twenty on eight?" Asked Harbinger. Shorty nodded.

"So be it." Said Blade. Both sides stared the other down, each try to gauge each other's strengths and weakness. There were two sailback and three sharpteeth like of Blade and Harbinger's species; the rest were fast biters.

"Alright, I suggest we fan out. Try and flank them, get them confused. Then we'll…" Littlefoot's strategy was interrupted when a shout went up.

"Get them!" Shouted the lead sharptooth surprising Littlefoot and the others. The last thing they'd expected was a reckless head-on rush.

"Stand your ground!" Littlefoot managed to shout as the first of the sharpteeth reached them. The first leapt at Littlefoot. He met it full on and threw his opponents over his shoulder before dashing into the fray as everyone began fighting.

Blade used the spike on his arm to slash the three sharpteeth of his kind as they charged at him.

"Come on is that the best you got?" He asked. Two of the dinosaurs charged him together, while the third hung back. As the first approached, Blade twisted himself around, just missing the sharptooth's open jaws. Still turning he raised his arm and slashed the second twice. The second Sharptooth slammed into the ground with and earth shaking crash. Blade looked over his right shoulder and saw the third Sharptooth coming right at him. He turned to face and as it leapt, he duck and gave a quick spin as he performed a quick hop, rolling right under the Sharptooth causing it to miss him entirely. Both landed and Blade quickly kicked out as the Sharptooth stumbled from its miss. He caught it in the center of the back and hurtled it into the first Sharptooth that had been coming back to attack again. As Blade fought the trio, Harbinger was fighting the sailbacks. He whapped them both with his tail trying to keep them both ahead of him and keep them backing up. One tried to get behind him, but the slammed his tail across its face, knocking it off balance. Taking the distraction, the one in front of him moved in, jaws open. Harbinger saw it out of the corner of his eyes and turned, ramming his head under its chin, and kicking it aside. As the first sailback staggered and fell the other once more tried to attack, but Harbinger kicked out, catching it in the chest. Seeing that they had finally been inadvertently placed in positions of advantage, the duo attacked together. The one behind him went low, biting his leg, as the other crashed its head across his face, knocking Harbinger over onto his back. Harbinger growled angrily as they pinned him. Before they could finish him, he managed to yank his leg free and rolled back into a curl, bringing his feet to smash into the face of the sailback in front of him. It let go of him and he brought his legs back forward and wrapped them around the other sailback. Pushing off, he spun around slamming the sharptooth into the ground. He looked up at a roar to see the first sail back in a vicious reckless rush. It jumped towards his neck just as he pushed backwards off the ground. Going in the same direction, for a moment, both were parallel to each other in the air; Harbinger with his back towards the ground, looking at the sailback over him. Using his position to his advantage, Harbinger brought his head back and arched his back, allowing him a better flip as he overhead kicked the sharptooth above him. He continued through and landed roughly in a crouch, using his claws to slow himself and stop his slide. The second sailback roared menacingly and charged. Harbinger waited until it was close enough then sidestepped and turned a circle on the spot, whipping out his tail and catching it in the back of the head. It crashed headfirst into a tree, uprooting it. The tree fell and the sailback crashed down on it.

"This is too easy." Said the green sharptooth, satisfied with his handiwork.

Littlefoot ducked as two fast biters lunged at him. The two collided heads above him and he moved away, elbowing another fast biter in the throat as he did so. The sharptooth gasped and fell. Looking up, Littlefoot saw the other twelve closing in. He backed up until he collided with Amber and Drake, who'd been having a hard time fighting, and Shorty who was also backing away from the encircling sharpteeth. Looking around quickly, Littlefoot got an idea.

"Shorty! Over the clouds?" Shorty looked confused then got it.

"And sunny side up." He replied. The sharpteeth began closing ranks; it was time to move.

"Amber, Drake! Duck!" Littlefoot ordered and the twins obeyed. He and Shorty used them as a base, rolling across their backs and kicking out their own legs at the sharpteeth.

"Hey!" Said Amber.

"What the-?!" Drake asked confused. They finished the roll and landed on each other's opposite side while Amber and Drake looked back up. Most of the sharpteeth recovered okay but two had been knocked out. Littlefoot rammed one of the sharpteeth while Shorty jumped off his back, using the sharptooth's head as a step, and tackled the sharptooth behind it. The remaining sharpteeth looked up, just in time to see Streakclaw and Scythe pounce on them. The two fast biters crashed feet first into the other fast biters knocking them down hard.

"Scythe! Like we practiced!" Yelled Streakclaw. Streakclaw and Scythe teamed up rushing another sharptooth. Streakclaw leapt into the air as Scythe dove to the ground. The younger sharptooth slid on the ground, knocking his quarry off its feet into the air. With a dull thud, Streakclaw's feet collided with its face, tossing it against a tree trunk. The remaining five sharpteeth exchanged glances, hesitating as Blade and Harbinger appeared behind Littlefoot and the others. Then, with a screech, the sharpteeth began to retreat back into the trees, taking their injured with them as they left.

"Huh." Said Littlefoot straightening up as he saw the sharpteeth running off.

"That's a bit odd." Streakclaw added.

"Should we pursue?" Asked Scythe, standing up.

"No. Let's head back to the valley." Littlefoot replied.

"Something's not right here." Said Blade, eyes narrowed as he scanned the trees, looking for any indication as to what was happening and why the sharpteeth just up and ran off.

"Hmm." Harbinger remarked thoughtfully, obviously troubled by this sudden turn of events like the others.

"Is it just me, or does something seem…wrong?" Asked Drake, breaking the silence as they walked back to the valley.

"Those Sharpteeth fell pretty easily." Said Scythe.

"What are you guys so worked up about? We won!" Said Shorty.

"Perhaps." Replied Littlefoot.

"Perhaps?! It was a well earned victory? I mean did you see how they ran off scared?"

"Well, we did push them back successfully." Drake noted.

"But Ravage doesn't retreat unless he has what he wants or he's losing badly." Said Harbinger.

"And they were losing badly." Shorty replied.

"Then why weren't there more sharpteeth there? And where was Ravage?" Asked Blade.

"He is right guys; I've just got a really bad feeling about this." Said Littlefoot.

"Hey, thing is, those sharpteeth never learn." Amber replied.

"Hrm." Was Streakclaw's response.

"Like I said, we're always one step ahead." Said Shorty. They reached the inside of the valley and saw Ravage pinning Bron to the ground while other sharpteeth held Grandma and Grandpa longneck, Topsy, Tria, Doc, Sawtooth, Ali's mother and the Old One. Three long tailed fast-biters held Hyp to a tree, and two more kept Ali, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike in check by a large boulder. The rest of the Mysterious Beyond infiltrators stood by, waiting for a fight. Instinctively, the Great Valley dinosaurs dropped into fighting stance, before realizing the futility of the situation.

"What was that about being one step ahead?" Asked Littlefoot. Blade moved to charge, but was knocked across the back of the head from behind, crashing face first into the ground, as his assailant retreated into the trees. Littlefoot watched as the shadowed shape moved towards Ravage and the other attackers. Blade raised himself to his feet, growling angrily.

"You all walked into my trap **again**!" Said Ravage, looking extremely happy. "But I can't take all the credit; your friend did help a lot." To everyone's horror, Senka appeared beside him. Blade let out a sharp, half growl, half roar.

"What?!" Yelled Harbinger.

"Ah!" Gasped Drake.

"No way!" Streakclaw shouted.

"Argh!" Yelled Shorty.

"Blade was right! Ooh, he was right." Added Scythe.

"Gaaww!!! I knew it! Dang it!!" Amber yelled, hitting her fist on the ground.

"Oh no. Blade _was_ right." Littlefoot realized.


	9. Fury

Land Before Time: Remnants  
Chapter 9: Fury

Even before he landed, Pterano knew something was wrong. The valley was too quiet and disturbingly still. He glided stealthily to a tree and landed on it. Peering out through the leaves his eye widened and he nearly gasped. Ravage and his forces were leading Littlefoot and several others to a large cave. Worse, Senka seed to be teamed with the remnant forces.  
"Oh no! What am I going to do?!" He whispered to himself.

At the entrance to the cave, Ravage stopped.  
"You've done well." He said to Senka. "If you do everything I order, I might make you my mate." Senka turned her head away in disgust and snorted, but Ravage didn't see or hear as he had just walked in. Without another choice, Senka followed. Inside the cave, the sharpteeth were binding their captives in vines and guarding them.

"There's a lesson to be had here …somewhere." Said Shorty as he was tied up with vines.

"It's always listen to Blade." Said Rhett angrily.

"Hey, you fell for it too!"

"Silence!!!" Ravage roared. Turning to Littlefoot, he added, "There's someone I'd like you to see." Ravage stood aside and a large brownish-gray sharptooth came forth. The Great Valley dinosaurs gasped.

"No…" Littlefoot breathed.

"I take it you're already acquainted with Red Claw?"

"Now what shall we do? Ah, yes! We'll make an example out of them. Execute the children." Said Ravage. Senka's eyes widened.

"What?!" She said, trying to keep her voice low, though it didn't matter with the ruckus the adult leaf-eaters had started making upon Ravage's orders. "You said they wouldn't be harmed." Ravage leered at her.

"Obey me, or join them." With that Ravage stomped up to the front of the group. Senka turned to look at the Great Valley dinosaurs. Most wouldn't even look at her. The few that did had only hatred in their eyes. Ravage had lied to her and now she didn't know what to do.

While most of the sharpteeth debated who to execute first, a large sharptooth happily following orders, walked over to Amber and Drake, licking its chops.  
"No!" Shouted Littlefoot and Shorty together.

"Leave them alone!!!" Yelled the twin's mother. The sharptooth grabbed Amber and Drake, and tossed them up into the, opening it mouth wide as it did.

"Aaaah!" Amber and Drake screamed as they fell. Blade kicked backwards into his guard, getting it to loosen its hold just long enough for him to escape. The large sharptooth leapt forth, snatching the children out of the air.

"Gotcha!" Blade stated as he landed roughly on his feet.

"Thanks." Said Drake as Blade put them down.

"Why'd you do that?" Asked Amber.

"That's what friends do." Was the reply. With that, Blade turned and began to run at the sharptooth that tried to eat the kids.

"No, wait! Stop!" Yelled Sawtooth. Blade stopped and looked at the older dinosaur, confused. Sawtooth wasn't looking at him, but over at Ravage, who was holding Ducky and Petrie, threateningly. With an angry growl, Blade let himself be captured again.

"Keep them restrained! Make sure that doesn't happen again!" Ravage yelled. He handed the two off to a short fast-biter, then began pacing among the captives, regarding each in turn.

"Now, who will go first? How about you?" He stopped before Ali as he recalled the stories the sharpteeth who'd served his brother told.

"No, Ali!" Screamed her mother.

"Leave the child be!" Added the Old One.

"Oh-ho! I don't think so!" Said Ravage. Littlefoot gritted his teeth and Blade squirmed, causing the sailback holding him to tighten its grip. Ravage raised his claws above Ali's head and swiped it downards. It was almost upon her, when a scream interrupted him.

"Yeowch!" Yelled the sailback guarding Blade, pulling away its burnt hand. Everyone turned to see Blade glowing with a blue aura, his clenched teeth adding to his terrifying appearance.

"Secure him!" Ravage ordered. The sharpteeth looked at one another before a large three clawed sharptooth went forward. Blade let out a ferocious roar, his eyes glowing bright blue. As the sharptooth approached, he leapt and kicked it in the face. As Blade landed, he grabbed the sailback that had been holding him, whirled it around so that they were back to back, and yanked it forward. The sailback gave out a roar of pain as the spikes on Blade's back cut into its own back. Blade released it and charged a nearby sharptooth. He grabbed its neck, and used the momentum to swing around onto its back. Blade grabbed its chin in one hand and the top of its head with the other. He gave an abrupt yank and a sharp crack filled the air. Before the dead sharptooth even hit the ground, Blade pushed off, performing a back flip to cover the distance to the other large sharptooth nearby. As he was upside down over it, he thrust down his claws, stabbing it through the top of the head. Blade bent his back, going into another flip, pulling the sharptooth up off the ground with him. They went through two hundred and seventy degrees of the flip, until the sharptooth's body was facing the direction their momentum was sending them towards. Blade twisted himself so that he had his feet against the sharptooth and kicked out, launching it forth and crashing into the other sharpteeth. One fast biter looked on in shock before turning around. The fast biter tried to run, but Blade caught it by its long tail and flung it into a nearby boulder, with enough strength to crack said boulder. Red Claw came at him next, but Blade spun around, bringing his tail to crash heavily on the side of the other sharptooth's head. Red Claw flew sideways into the cave wall and slid to the ground.

"What's happening?" Shorty asked as the sharpteeth began to scramble out of the cave.

"This is sort of like what happened to Littlefoot when we first met." Said Sawtooth, as he cut through his vines and began to help the young longneck.

"Wait a minute! I thought Blade couldn't be affected by this because he was already a sharptooth!!!" Yelled Shorty.

"It's not him, look!" Said Sawtooth. Shorty followed his gaze to where Littlefoot was on the ground, teeth clenched and eyes glowing blue like Blade's.

"What in the world…?"

"Come on we have to get the others out of here!"

"What happened?!" Asked Ali as Sawtooth and Shorty began freeing everyone.

"I'm not sure, but it would seem that Blade, who is unable to use his powers at will, had unknowingly been reaching out with his energy, trying to find any energy source for help. Littlefoot, who was helpless to help his friends and family, was just overflowing with energy. Anger filled energy at that. The two sources inadvertently met, and it accidently overpowered Blade's self-control as he is now acting on Littlefoot's anger." Sawtooth replied.

"And that means?" Asked Ruby as she was freed.

"We should stay away from him at all costs."

Pterano had been just outside the cave, hanging onto the top of its mouth entrance, upside down, to peek inside. Now he saw his advantage and pushed off from the cave, taking to the air. He quickly laid out a plan in his head hoped dearly that it would work. He looked down at the cave, waiting for something, anything, to happen. Soon several sharpteeth ran out. The rocks around the cave exploded and through the dust, Blade could just be seen running out. He passed between two sharpteeth, grabbing them by the necks, and throwing them to the ground. Using the position the movement had put him in, he rolled on the ground to dodge attacks directed at him, and quickly regained his feet, slashing the throat of a nearby sailback as he did so. Another sharptooth threw out its claw, but Blade blocked with his arm, driving the claws on his other into its stomach. Ravage had climbed up a hill to get a better vantage point; Senka beside him.

"Fools! Stop him!" Ravage roared his orders. As he looked at the fighting below, he was off-guard.

"Hyyaah!!!" Senka rammed her elbow into Ravage's chest, causing him to lean over in pain.

"You little traitorous-!" Ravage began, raising his head to glare at her. Senka wrapped her tail around his neck and yanked him forward off the hill. "You flattooth loving hag. **I'll make sure you die with them all!!!!**"

"Hag? You are obviously blind or stupid, 'cause I'm not that old." She retorted.

The captive Great Valley dinosaurs ran out of the cave and began fighting off sharpteeth, trying to keep them from trapping Blade, though that seemed like an impossible task, given his near frenzied attacks. Shorty tried to help as best he could when he realized, a group of fast biters were massing to attack him the few nearby adults. As he prepared to shower them with rocks, a crumbling sound seemed to fill the air, and the sharpteeth looked down at their feet just as the ground gave way under them. With surprised yelps they all fell into the hole. Shorty peered over the edge and saw Skitter jump onto the snout of one of the dazed sharpteeth a blow a raspberry in its face as the other Tinysauruses scrambled about, wrapping the sharpteeth in vines.

"Nice timing." He called down.

"Thanks! We would've helped sooner, but these traps take a while to make." Said Lizzie.

Several sharpteeth were attempting to encircle the valley dinosaurs that still hadn't spread out, when Pterano found his chance to move. He dove as fast as he could manage, his wing swept back to give him better aerodynamics as the wind blasted him.  
"Come on, I can do this." He said to himself, trying to summon all the powers the Stone of Cold Fire had granted him. He didn't know how to do it, but he had listened to Littlefoot being trained on several occasions, and tried to emulate as best he could. He plummeted faster and faster, slightly angled so that he was aimed at the sharpteeth masses. "Please, this must work." He was nearly upon them when his hearing seemed to change. With a deafening _crack_, he rocketed past the sharpteeth, knocking them all about. Water vapor rapidly condensing produced a vapor cone around the area of his shoulders and wings.

"Alright Pterano! Whoo!" Rhett yelled.

"Yeah, uncle Pterano!" Cheered Petrie. Pterano nodded and performed several corkscrews as he sought out more sharpteeth to ambush.

"Drake, Amber!" Called Shorty, as he caught up with them. "Have you seen Littlefoot?"

"I thought he was with you." Said Drake. Before Shorty could reply, three fast biters, only slightly taller than they, hopped into view from behind some bushes. Shorty and Drake immediately tackled two of them and began to fight. The third fast biter walked around, looking for a way to help its friends. It finally found it as the two longnecks pinned their targets.

"Prepare to die little longnecks." Hissed the fast biter. Amber gave a scream of fury and rushed the sharptooth. The fat biter's eyes widened as she rammed it and proceeded to beat it about.

"I'm tired of you blasted sharpteeth and your stupid arrogance!" Screamed Amber as she hit the fast biter on each word. Shorty and Drake actually stopped what they were doing to look on in shock.

"Dang!" Said Shorty.

Senka stood near some trees looking around. She'd gone into the bedlam that was the fighting inside the valley, and had managed to lose Ravage. Now she scanned through the mess of dinosaurs, and realized Littlefoot was missing. Was he still in the cave? Only one way to find out. Senka arrive at the cave mouth and peered in. There was Littlefoot in the center, eyes now closed, dirt and rock falling about him as the cavern threatened to cave-in.

"Littlefoot!" Senka yelled. As she ran towards him, the young longneck stood up.

"What do you want?!" He said venomously.

"To help you!" She said earnestly. Littlefoot quickly transformed and pinned Senka against a wall with the spikes on his tail.

"Why should we trust **you**?!?! You betrayed us!!!"

"I made a mistake. I have to fix it." Littlefoot stayed unmoving, glaring at her. "I know you won't trust me but at least listen to me."

"What choice do we have?" Littlefoot muttered rhetorically, letting her go.

"You have all the choices in the world."

"What the-?" Said Littlefoot, looking around, wide-eyed, as he and Senka reached the cave mouth. Dinosaurs were running around everywhere. All semblance of order seemed to have vanished. "This is frantic, mass hysteria. There's sharpteeth left and right; I can't even make sense of this mess."

"It is a mess." Senka agreed. They both turned at an incredibly loud roar to see Blade slashing his way through the enemy sharpteeth. Littlefoot looked on in horror.

"I did that…" He said knowingly.

"It's not your fault." Senka replied.

"I have to stop him!"

"No wait! Littlefoot, he's not himself!" It was too late as the young longneck ran up to where Blade had finished with the sharpteeth and was now, glaring down several leaf-eaters, more for being in his way than anything else. After a few minutes, in which everyone cringed away a bit, he bent down to make sure that the sharpteeth at his feet were dead.

"Blade?" Littlefoot asked cautiously. The sharptooth raised his head, growling lowly, blood around his jaws and covering his spikes and claws. As he stopped, everyone around him gasped. Many felt apprehension and fear. Littlefoot himself was terrified. He could feel the anger emanating from his friend even as he looked into his pupiless, and irisless, glowing eyes.

"Blade it's okay." He tried. Blade roared and jumped towards him. Littlefoot put his tail forward, their spikes blocking Blade's claws. "Blade, don't you remember me?! It's Littlefoot!" His only response was an increased assault of swipes, slashes and attempted bite. "I won't fight you!" Blade knocked Littlefoot onto his back and pressed the attack.

"Blade don't!" Yelled Sawtooth, trying to pull him off Littlefoot. Blade roared and slammed his tail against the older sharptooth, knocking him aside. He resumed his attack on Littlefoot, trying to bite his face or neck, as Littlefoot tried to hold him off with his front paws.

"Blade remember…" Littlefoot strained.

"Blade!" Yelled Streakclaw.

"Blade stop!"

The sharptooth halted his attack. Unless, he was hearing things, Littlefoot could've sworn that was Zero's voice. The large sharptooth looked down the bruised and slightly bloodied longneck and recognition dawned on his face, before turning into a look of sheer horror.  
"Littlefoot? I- I'm so sorry." Said Blade, he's eyes going back to normal. Littlefoot sighed and chuckled in relief. He reverted back to normal, as his energy was spent.

"I'm just glad you didn't eat me."

Littlefoot stood in his normal form next to Blade as the sharptooth kept apologizing.  
"It wasn't your fault, it was mine." Said Littlefoot again.

"That's still no excuse." Said Blade. "And now, Ravage got away." It was true. Ravage had taken the distraction, and completely retreated his entire force. Even Red Claw was gone. As they looked around at the gathering dinosaurs, Blade spotted Senka, still in the valley, and looking out of place.

"You!" He roared. Blade grabbed Senka by the neck, spun them around and slammed her into the ground. Everyone around them winced.

"Give me one reason not to end this now." He said with such venom and hatred, that even Ravage and Seeker might've thought twice about crossing him.

"Blade. Don't." Littlefoot said, but it was hardly loud enough to be heard by the furious sharptooth.

"I-I've… g-go-got… n-nothing…" Senka managed to choke out, trying and failing to draw air.

"Rrrraaahhhhh!!!!!" Blade roared, drawing back his free arm. Senka squeezed her eyes shut. Everyone gasped as Blade's claws came down and the sound of it impaling something soft filled the air.

"Senka's betrayal of us was an unforeseen circumstance. Now more than ever, we must strike violently against that valley. Look at us! Look at us now!! This is all that is left of my brother's grand scheme! This is all that remains of the once glorious force of the Mysterious Beyond! We are small; we are the leftovers, last of a dying breed. But mark my words! We shall be avenged! The Mysterious Beyond shall have its day! We will take them by force! Our rage will not be contained; the Remnant forces shall win the day!!!" Ravage rallied. The sharpteeth broke into roars and growls of approval, cheering for their leader. A few feet away from the main group, Branimir looked on from the lake.

"So, it has begun." He said. "Very well. So be it."

Blade let out a low growl deep in his throat. Senka opened her eyes and out of their corners saw Blade's arm beside her face, his claws deep in the dirt.

"You are not worth my time." Blade growled, moving off. Senka blinked, staring in shock as she rose to her feet.


	10. The Return

Author's Note: This is the last "start" chapter, though it's still the beginning of the story. After this the pace will pick up a bit. How much I don't know yet, but there'll definitely been an increase in tactics used etc. I hope everyone had good holidays and a good new year, and without further ado, here's chapter 10.

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 10: The Return

_Littlefoot raced through the field as the battle raged all over. His couldn't tell who was winning, everything was so frantic, so desperate and in his rush it all seemed like a single cacophony of noise and blurred sights. He soon arrived at his destination, a familiar ravine. And there, holding onto its edge, was the reason of his rush. Littlefoot ran towards his friend as fast as he could. Despite being fully transformed, he couldn't seem to get any closer. I'm coming! At long last he was close enough. He threw himself to the ground sliding, paws outstretched. At that moment the sharptooth's eyes met Littlefoot's own and he knew what was next.  
"King! No!" He yelled. Too late, he saw the tan Sharptooth loose his grip and fall. He turned his hate filled glare to a dark outline of a sharptooth standing nearby, watching. "Seeker." Littlefoot said venomously. Though he couldn't see it, he knew his opponent was smiling that evil grin of his. Before Littlefoot could act, the shape vanished, only to reappear beside him, bashing its head against his ribs and knocking over the ravine edge. Littlefoot just barely managed to grab the edge, putting himself in a position that mirrored King's. To Littlefoot's horror, as he watched, the sharptooth emerged from the shadows revealing a body that was slenderer than Seeker's with colors of orange with blue stripes. "Senka!" He growled. Before his very eyes, Senka suddenly morphed into a slightly larger, black and silver colored sharptooth. "Ravage!" Ravage lunged his head forward snapping at Littlefoot's paws. The longneck had no choice but to release his grip. Falling through the endless abyss, he could hear Ravage's evil laugh. Littlefoot screamed.  
_

"Aaaahhh!!!!" Littlefoot screamed as he woke up panting hard and looked around. He'd had another nightmare from the first war. He saw all the dinosaurs sleeping nearby; Senka the furthest from anyone, sleeping by herself in the distance.

"Littlfoot?" Came Ali's voice from beside. Littlefoot grimaced as he realized he'd woken her.

"Yeah?"

"You had another nightmare?" Through the dark, he saw her raise her head to look at him. "Yeah.

"What was it about this time?"

"The first war."

"Wanna talk about?" She asked, hoping it'd make him feel better.

"I'll tell you about tomorrow."

"Oh, okay." Slightly reluctant, Ali lay back down and curled up to sleep. Littlefoot lay back beside Ali, too deep in thought to sleep again.

"Why is one so young and inexperienced, and obviously inept as you doing in charge of the Mysterious Beyond's forces?!" The voice had easily cut through the chatter and now a deafening silence fell on the area, as all heads turned to look an old sharptooth, with an injured eye and a long scar, running from said eye to a claw.

"What was that?!" Coming from all the way from the opposite side, the barely restrained voice seemed like a clap of thunder in the silence and seemed all the more terrifying for it. As the two sharpteeth stared each other down, several other sharpteeth scurried out of the way, giving the two unhindered line of sight of each other.

"Don't challenge me you old fool, you're nothing without your lackeys and even than you couldn't beat me."

"Well then, let's test that theory." With that, Red Claw gave a loud roar and charged forward. With an even louder roar, Ravage charged as well. The two rammed heads, the collision echoing in the empty air. It the most primitive form of combat, it was a battle of shear strength. The younger Ravage was able to push his older opponent off balance, Red Claw backpedaling to maintain his footing and not fall. It didn't take much of the wisdom of age Red Claw had to know how to handle the situation and he nearly smirked as he sidestepped, letting Ravage's rashness work against the younger sharptooth. Ravage tried to regain his balance, following Red Claw's rotation as the older sharptooth watched him while trying to away enough so Ravage couldn't use him to balance himself. Still the black and silver sharptooth went 180° around Red Claw in mere seconds while off-balance as he tried to attack and grab onto the old dinosaur simultaneously. While surprisingly impressed by the younger sharptooth's determination but he knew he couldn't allow him to recover. He whapped his tail across the back of Ravage's head, sending the still-off-balance sharptooth into the ground. With a groan Ravage opened his eyes to see a small piece of the Stone of Cold Fire, probably dropped by one of the sharpteeth, right there in front of his nose Ravage touched the stone and for an instant, his irises glowed blue.

"Give up?" Red Claw growled as he approached the fallen sharptooth. Ravage pushed off with all his strength, ramming his head under Red Claw's chin. As the older sharptooth's head snapped up, Ravage took the advantage, spinning and kicking him in the chest. Red Claw crashed into a tree and before he could recover, Ravage dove in biting his neck and half knocking half dragging him to the ground. Red Claw tried to rise, but Ravage had him trapped under his foot and even if he could stand, the injury it would cause his throat would be fatal. With heavy breaths due to the difficulty of drawing air, the old sharptooth stopped struggling. Ravage let go, but kept Red Claw pinned under his foot. The leader of the remnants growled loudly before speaking.

"You're lucky I need fighters, but if you challenge me one more time, I'll break your neck in half." Ravage growled. Red Claw grumbled angrily but knew he'd been put in his place. Ravage turned to Screech and Thud. "You got a problem?" The two quickly shook their heads. "Good." While life seemed to return to the gathered sharpteeth, Ravage walked towards the edge of the forest and looked at the sky. "Do I force out his full power, or do I destroy him right away? What are the risks and what are the benefits?" He said to himself.

Later that morning, the Great Valley dinosaurs decided to meet in order to discuss their next move and plan how they'd execute it. Senka looked on warily as the valley dinosaurs began to gather. Blade walked past without even looking in her direction, Harbinger however, had more to say.

"Twisted ankle, eh?" Growled he as he walked past Senka.

"He lied to me. He said nobody would be hurt."

"And you believed him?" When she didn't reply, the large green sharptooth walked off. Littlefoot who'd witness this event sighed.

"Senka, please join us." He said.

"As you wish." The group gathered in a large circle at meeting place. Littlefoot noticed Shorty and Amber standing by Blade. While he thought nothing of Shorty there, it was strange to see Amber willingly next to a sharptooth. However, he did notice both longnecks eyeing Senka with caution and mistrust. He took a spot next to Blade so the sharptooth could advise him without having to talk across the group.

"As you all know, Ravage has been gathering material at a nearby volcano for his exploders." Littlefoot began

"Yellow rock." Said Senka

"Thank you. Our job is go in, and disrupt if not destroy his supplies. However, due to the location this is extremely dangerous."

"I know volcanoes." Said Blade "I'll lead this one." Littlefoot nodded.

"Somehow I knew you knew." Muttered Mr. Threehorn.

"Now according to reports, the volcano is not in any danger of erupting anytime; so that should be the least of our worries."

"I have some more information regarding Ravage's motive." Senka said aside to Littlefoot.

"Should we trust her?" Blade whispered to Littlefoot. Littlefoot sighed

"Go ahead Senka."

"There something else Ravage doesn't want you to know." All eyes were upon her now.

"What?" Asked Littlefoot.

"He has no Stone of Cold Fire Power."

"What?" Said Bron.

"Unlike Seeker, Ravage wasn't in range when it hit. He didn't get the powers."

"That's why he wants the pieces of the stone!" Said Shorty.

"He needs the power himself." Added Grandpa Longneck.

"He's been diverting our attention." Remarked Mr. Threehorn.

"Maybe!" Said Blade, asserting attention on him. "This is very likely, but we cannot assume these are his only motives. Perhaps just his primary." Littlefoot nodded.

"Agreed. Where is this volcano he uses?"

"I can show you the way."

"Very well."

The group to the volcano consisted of Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Shorty, Rhett, Scythe, Bron, Sawtooth, Blade, Harbinger and Senka; all others had stayed to guard the valley to avoid a repeat of last night. As they approached the volcano, the first thing they noticed, beside its size, was the smell.

"P.U.!" Said Harbinger, scrunching up his face, as they got closer to the towering natural vent.

"Awrgh!" Said Blade ducking his head and covering his nose. Both sharpteeth who had higher smell sensitivity due to their powers were the first affect. Littlefoot was next to sense to horridly rancid smell, followed quickly by the others. The air smelled beyond horrible. It was like something had died and rotted in the air.

"Fumes." Muttered Senka as she scrunched up her own nose.

"It's easily a thousand times worse than the burnt area outside the valley." Thought Littlefoot.

"Here we are." Said Senka, stopping before an opening in the volcano.

"Woah." Said the kids as they peered in. Through the darkness, they could just make out yellow all over the walls floor and ceiling of the tunnel.

"Echo!" Shouted Petrie causing and echo off the walls.

"Shush!" Said Cera angrily.

"Me sorry." Blade ventured in slowly.

"Be careful, this whole place is incredibly volatile. One spark and we'll all go up." He said.

"Check." Said Littlefoot. He rounded on Shorty. "No jitteriness. **Do **_**not**_** shoot**. Anything." Shorty glared at him. Did he really need to remind him of that?

"Nobody breathe too deeply, this stuff's poisonous." Said Senka.

"Poison?!" Almost everyone shouted.

"Don't worry; your stone of Cold Fire powers will protect you from the worst of it."

After a few minutes of walking in near darkness, the group entered an antechamber, and Blade signaled them to a halt.  
"We have to be careful not to disturb the air in the wrong places." He said. "So stay absolutely still; don't move a muscle."

"No one even breathe." Added Rhett, a bit sarcastically. Blade frowned but shrugged.

"If the gases are destabilized here, it may cause of wisp of fire, which flow with the air into the main tunnel." Littlefoot crouched down, and grabbed dirt off the ground. He slowly released it, watching the yellow powder fall to the ground.

"Why do we have to go in this far?" Asked Bron. "Why not just blow this place and leave."

"I intend too. But first, I want to see if this where Ravage keeps the bits of the stone he collected." Answered Littlefoot.

"Indeed it is?" Everyone turned to see Ravage enter the chamber behind them, flanked by two sailbacks. Blade, Senka Sawtooth and Harbinger growled angrily, but none moved.

"Hello Senka; so good to see you again. We have some catching up to do."

"Go choke on branch." Said Senka.

"Touchy." Turning to the others, he indicated the antechamber and added, "Isn't it just beautiful?" He motioned, his claws came dangerously close to the walls causing all the Great Valley dinosaurs to cringe slightly.

"Ravage, this whole cavern can go up at any moment." Littlefoot tried to reason.

"And thus my predicament. Do I die to destroy you or wait for another day? Decisions, decisions."

"Everyone back away carefully." Said Blade. Slowly everyone began to inch away, the four good sharpteeth, saying for awhile to cover them.

"I don't think so." Said Ravage. "Get them!" As the sailbacks charged, one launched a sharp rock at the group. Shorty moved his face out of the way just in time and, as all held their breaths, the rock hit the wall and sparked. Shorty gasped then breathed a sigh of relief as the spark didn't ignite. At the same time, Blade and Harbinger moved to intercept the sailbacks, all four colliding at the halfway point. Littlefoot looked around and saw Bron engaging Ravage. It wasn't longe before Ravage gained the upper hand and knocked Bron aside. As he moved into to finish him off, Littlefoot charged in.

"Ravage!" Littlefoot yelled, transforming in a flash of blue light. He took his transformation further, going into his spiked form. Ravage brought his claws down upon him and Littlefoot blocked with his tail. As claw and spike collided, a quick flash of blue light emitted from the area. It was then Littlefoot noticed Ravage was holding pieces of the Stone of hold fire in his claws. His eyes widened upon that realization.

"Ravage, this whole cave will destabilize with us in it." He tried to reason.

"If I must die to destroy you so be it." The entire area began to shake under the force, slightly at first but gradually gaining strength.

"You gotta be kidding me…"

"I've waited this long!" Ravage retorted. Littlefoot realized he was right. They faced one another down several times, but this was their first actual head-on fight. Any further thought however, was interrupted by a large piece of the cave ceiling collapsing between them, forcing the two apart, as lava began seeping in. The ground shook violently, splitting open and threatening to consume everything. Glaring at each other, both groups decided to retreat to the safety of the outside.

"We'll finish this later!!" Ravage yelled back as he ran through a side cavern followed by the sailbacks. Littlefoot went over to where his friends were helping Bron.

"This cave won't last. We've got to get out of here." Said Blade. The group took off down the tunnel through which they'd come in, running as fast as they could while hot steam began to burst around them. Littlefoot looked back and saw the flames in the air beginning to ignite the yellow rocks and dust.

"Move, move, move, move, move!!!" He shouted rushing after the others as flames shot through the tunnels. Once out in the open, they stopped and turned around. They stared up to the mouth of the volcano where a large vertical column of whirling lava rose high into the air. A large dark mass seemed to be inside it and this was confirmed when the swirling lava burst apart by the sudden spreading of giant wings.

"Uh-oh…" Said Scythe.

"It's Leatherback!!" Yelled Rhett.

"Everybody move!" Yelled Sawtooth. The Great Valley dinosaurs scattered as Leatherback began to blast its flames at anything that moved.  
Littlefoot go!" Bron yelled, pushing his son ahead of him. Leatherback turned his gaze to Bron who hesitated in dodging. In that moment it fired its flames at him.

"Dad!" Littlefoot and Shorty yelled together. Bron felt something collide with his right side, pushing him out of the way of the flames. He turned to see that Senka had tackled him.

"Thanks." Said Bron.

"Anytime." Senka replied.

Littlefoot looked around and saw Ravage and the two sailbacks emerging from inside the volcano. The timing couldn't be better as they appeared right beneath Leatherback gaze. With a roar, the giant dinosaur turned his attention and attacks to them. Ravage was fast but the two sailbacks weren't as lucky as one of Leatherbacks attacks quickly vaporized them. Crashing unto his back from the attack that took out the two sailbacks, the black and silver sharpttoth found himself staring up at the towering behemoth.

"Attack!" Ravage yelled. From the trees, several rocks and boulders began to fly and hit Leatherback.

"Jeez! We would've run straight into that ambush." Said Scythe.

"Hey look, he's not healing." Said Shorty pointing to the breaks on Leatherback's body.

"He must not have fully recovered from his confrontation with Littlefoot." Said Bron.

"He lost too much power and is having trouble holding a charge." Blade speculated.

"Let's not stand here, then. We should get while the getting is good." Said Rhett. The other twelve dinosaurs nodded and began to run back in the direction of the Great Valley. As they ran off, Leatherback roared loudly in pain. Littlefoot stopped and sighed.

"Littlefoot come on!" Cera yelled.

"I can't just stay here and watch them hurt him!"

"What?!?!" Cera, Shorty and Rhett screamed together.

"Littlefoot wait!" Sawtooth yelled as Littlefoot took off, running back.

"I have to do something!" Was the reply as Littlefoot rushed on without even a glance backwards.

"Aaaarrrhh!!" Littlefoot yelled as he charged down Ravage.

"You!" Ravage yelled. Before Littlefoot could do anything else, his transformation timed-out and he went back to normal.

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh is right, brat." Ravage took a step forward only to leap back as a stream of flames melted the ground where he'd just been standing. Leatherback had taken the distraction and was pushing his advantage to attack. Using Ravage's temporary inattention, Littlefoot ran off in the opposite direction.

"See! That's how he thanks you for helping him." Said Cera as Littlefoot ran to where the others were waiting.

"At least my conscience is clean."

"Your **what?!**" Rhett all but yelled. "That, it, you, argh!"

"You always that articulate?" Cera asked sarcastically.

"Hey guys? Ravage is getting away." Said Senka.

"Huh?" Littlefoot Rhett and Cera turned to see the sharptooth was indeed escaping.

"Hey!" Shouted Cera, as if that'd stop him.

"We've got bigger problems." Said Blade.

"Right because if Ravage got away then that means…uh-oh." Said Rhett. They turned to see Leatherback glaring down at them.

"Run." Scythe said through clenched teeth. Everyone quickly ran for cover, except Littlefoot, who stood rooted to the spot. Leatherback brought its head down close to the ground, just in front of Littlefoot. Once more, the young longneck found himself staring into those glowing white eyes. Suddenly its glowing white eyes became blue. And strangely enough so did Littlefoot's.

"Wow." Said Littlefoot. He was seeing everything Leatherback had seen and more. He was seeing its thoughts understanding on a level that transcended words. It was a whole new level of communication, a sort of sense that came from the tremendous amount of the Stone of Cold Fire's energy within them.

"What's going on?" Asked Bron as they all watched the scene from beside some trees. "Blade do you know what's going on? Blade?" Everyone turned to see Blade looking upon the scene with eyes glowing blue.

"They're sensing. Communicating if you will. With their minds."

"And you?" Asked Scythe.

"His powers is just as great as theirs, he probably got pulled in as well." Suggested Sawtooth. Blade nodded without breaking his gaze.

"I see everything." Frowning, Bron decided to get closer to Littlefoot and Leatherback to see if he could make any sense of what was happening. The others followed out of curiosity.

As suddenly as it had begun, Leatherback's eyes reverted back to its regular white glow, while Littlefoot's own eyes stopped glowing. The twelve remaining dinosaurs approached and baring his teeth, Leatherback growled causing everyone to prepare to attack or run, whichever was deemed best.

"No wait!" Said Littlefoot, stopping them. As they all watched, Leatherback straightened to full height and with a beat of his powerful wings, took to the sky.

"What was that all about?" Asked Shorty. Littlefoot looked at him and smiled.

"Comprehension."


	11. Supply Lines

A/N: I apologize for the delay with this chapter. My laptop's hard drive stopped working and I lost all my files. Since my laptop was my old PC's back up, I had no back up for my laptop itself (it's only a year old, I don't know why it stopped working). Thus I had to rewrite everything. I made this chapter shorter to save time, but it is still important so don't write it off. Chapter 12 will come soon, so then I can rewrite everything else I lost.  
Land Before Time: Remnants  
Chapter 11: Supply Lines

Littlefoot was standing at the edge of the Thundering Falls, overlooking the valley when Streakclaw ran up to him.

"Littlefoot our scouts have reported that they've located the sharpteeth supply lines."

"How is that possible? The supply lines is supposed unlocatable to those that don't know their location." Asked Senka, who had standing behind Littlefoot, drinking from the river.

"That might've been the case if it were hidden." Said Harbinger, walking up behind Streakclaw. "Apparently they were shifting their path and we caught them in that moment of visibility."

"I doubt Ravage will be there. This might make for an easy target." Said Sawtooth.

"Are you sure?" Asked Shorty and Scythe at the same time.

"He's arrogant. He makes stupid mistakes." Said Harbinger.

"Plus it's not his style to bother with something they believe can't be found."

"So we'll prove 'em wrong and strike when they're vulnerable." Said Littlefoot.

"Let's get the others and come up with a plan of action." Said Senka. They made their way down into the main, lower parts of the valley, gathering a small group with them. After thinking for a moment, Littlefoot began drawing on the ground before them.

"Their supply lines is blocked by sinking sands, forcing them to cut through a thick forest. The trail they'll have to follow is through these trees, which would prevent them from maneuvering in a battle. We can ambush them there." He explained, as the others studied the plan.

"But aren't the trees going to hinder us as well?" Asked Shorty.

"Not quite. The trees here are too thick for large dinosaurs, but I believe a small team moving among the trees can handle it. There'll be only fifteen of us. Three teams of five, positioned here, here and here." He pointed out the locations in his drawing, before making three crossing lines. "We'll catch them in the crossfire." Blade thought for a moment.

"This plan is extremely dangerous. There's way too much that can go wrong. We'll need to execute this quickly, precisely, and effectively. Whatever happens no one break cover; got it?" They all nodded. "Good." Chomper noticed an area near the edge of the forest that didn't seem as thick with trees as the others.

"Hey! Blade can fit through here and I believe we can send one decently large adult and keep them hidden in the threes here." Said Chomper pointing at the drawing on the ground.  
"Good idea." Said Littlefoot.

"I'll go!" Said Mr. Threehorn. Blade and Littlefoot exchanged an uneasy glance.

"Bad idea." They muttered.

"Can I help?" Asked Shorty.

"Yeah, when we get there, find someplace where you can provide supporting fire from a distance, but **keep** your distance. If they find you, they'll take you out." Shorty nodded and they went off to pick the rest of the volunteers for the mission.

After an hour's walk the fifteen dinosaur group, plus Shorty, Blade and Topsy, arrived at the ambush point and split into the three teams, quickly heading off into the trees to hide. Team One and Two were next to each other, while Team Three was across from them and split into two smaller teams. The smaller dinosaurs had no problems getting through the trees, and Blade got by with relative ease, but Mr. Threehorn nearly got stuck on four separate occasions as he maneuvered in. There was no way any larger dinosaur, such as Bron or Littlefoot's grandparents, could fit in there. Once they were all in position, Littlefoot looked up the hill behind them, where Shorty signaled that he was set. The green longneck lay ready to provide long-range support from his cover in some tall grass. Littlefoot felt a bit of trepidation. Aside from Blade, Shorty and Mr. Threehorn, none of the dinosaurs there were the regulars he fought with and he realized he had no idea how far along with their training they were. He also knew that Mr. Threehorn wasn't one to take orders, so that only left Blade and Shorty that he could fully rely on one hundred percent. No time to worry now, as looking down the trail Littlefoot saw the lead sharptooth appeared followed by the others. Several stacks of meat seemed to be tied to their backs by vines, while several more was carried between two sharpteeth carrying a long flat piece of wood with long thin sticks on both sides and either end. The meat was stacked on what they were carrying.

"Here they come." Littlefoot whispered, ducking behind some bushes. They carefully observed the approaching line, waiting for the right moment. When the time came, Littlefoot nodded to Blade. The sharptooth picked up a stone about the size of his fist and hurled it. It struck a sharptooth on the side of the head.

"Hey!" It yelled at another sharptooth. As it did both stopped, inadvertently but effectively stopping the line. Peeking from around the trees, Littlefoot signaled the team on his right to shoot. Team Two struck true, downing their targets immediately.

"What was that?!" Shouted several sharpteeth as they began to become disorganized.

"Everyone back to back! Watch all directions!" Ordered the lead sharptooth.

"Bad decision." Littlefoot thought to himself as he pointed and signaled Team Three to attack. Rocks flew from the two areas Team Three was located, downing three more sharpteeth.

"Fire into the trees!" Ordered the same sharptooth.

Shorty tried to get an aim at one of the sharpteeth, but his hiding spot was a little too good as he found the leaves to be blocking his view. Growling angrily, he edged closer, to no avail. He went even further, entering the trees on the hill's slope. As he took aim again, Shorty felt a tiny wind and heard a _pfft_ as a rock flew over his left shoulder, near his cheek and smacked into a tree behind him, sending splitters of wood flying.

"Cripes, that was close!" Shorty thought to himself. "I better get closer or I'll be unable to hit anyone.

The plan was going fine. All three teams were attack together while staying hidden, disorientating the sharpteeth who only had a general direction to attack and even that was split three ways. Littlefoot signaled that their opponents were weakening when what he least expected happened.

"Everybody with me!" Shouted Mr. Threehorn as he burst forth and charged. To Littlefoot's horror, many dinosaurs up and followed him, passing the appalled longneck as they rushed.

"Hold positions!" Blade yelled. With their ambushers in view, the sharpteeth turned their full fury to the fight.

"Hey, wait!" Shouted Littlefoot. A sharptooth grabbed onto one of the big mouths bit down on its neck. The big mouth bellowed in pain, falling to the ground.

"No!" Yelled Littlefoot. "Team Three, fire, fire!" What was left of the last team rose from their hiding place and began providing support.

Shorty was dumbstruck by the commotion in the clearing.

"What in the world is going on?" He muttered to himself, unable to find anyone to sit still long enough to target. Eventually one sharptooth stopped to fire some rocks in the direction of Team Two. "Gotcha." Shorty whispered. He fired, hitting the sharptooth through the back of the head. Satisfied that he'd gotten the sharptooth, Shorty prepared to move away. However, before he could leave, he heard another _pfft_. "Argh!" Shorty yelled as the rock struck him in the shoulder, going clean through. He clutched his shoulder and stumbled out of the overgrowth heading towards the others.

After a long pounding from what remained of the ambushing teams that were still hidden, the lead sharptooth roared, and the remaining carnivores turned and began to run away.

"Look they're retreating!" Shouted a domehead.

"Good; everyone, fall back!" Littlefoot yelled over the raucous.

"What?!" Mr. Threehorn bellowed.

"I said fall back!" Littlefoot yelled at the top of his lungs. As the group finally obeyed, Shorty stumbled from the bushes, nearly crashing into Littlefoot. "How-, never mind; tell me later. Let's go!" Littlefoot said, helping Shorty limp away after the others.

When the group finally returned to the Great Valley near sunset, Littlefoot was having trouble containing his anger, but Blade seemed to have given up on it.

"What part of 'no one break cover', didn't you understand?!?!" Blade was yelling at the group. He usually kept his cool under much better control, but this time recklessness had resulted in a death. No one replied, but Topsy grumbled angrily.

"And why are you injured?!" Littlefoot asked turning to Shorty. Shorty didn't answer, just glared, trying to stare Littlefoot down. "You're a long-range sharpshooter! They're not supposed to see you. Heck, you're not even supposed to be close enough to hit!" Seeing that he couldn't stare his brother down, Shorty turned his gaze to the ground. Littlefoot sighed angrily.

"You want to take this?" Blade asked. Littlefoot nodded, turning to the group at large.

"Alright, listen up! Let's get this straight. _I'm_ in charge and when I'm not around, Blade is. That's what you all wanted and that's what we're giving you. And if you can't decide what you want anymore, well, tough luck."

"I think you were a bad influence on him." Cera said to her father who muttered angrily in response.

"What was he thinking?" Scythe asked as the group disbanded and each went their own way.

"Probably nothing. Hotheads are usually like that." Said Pterano.

"So did we win?" Asked Senka, having listened in on the berating. Blade didn't reply more out of anger and frustration than any grudge he still held towards Senka, but Littlefoot answered her.

"Technically yes. But we only disrupted the line. The sharpteeth will surely try to move it again."

"Do you think we can find it again?"

"Perhaps; we got lucky once." Trachor answered.

"But we have to find it as they're moving it." Harbinger added.

"I just hope we get a second shot at it." Said Littlefoot.

"Meanwhile, we'll have to up discipline among our forces. Regardless of how bad this mission went, it did serve to uncover a serious and potentially fatal flaw in our forces." Said Sawtooth.

"We'll work on it." Blade said, finally speaking.


	12. To Big Water

Disclaimer: I don't own the Land Before Time; its sequels, or any of its characters. Except those which I create and write up.

Song: Big Water Written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom, originally sung by Cannon Young, Thomas Dekker, Anndi McAfee, Aria Noelle Curzon and Jeff Bennett

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 12: To Big Water

"Argh!" Shorty yelled, as crushed berries and leaves were applied to the wound on his shoulder.

"Oh quit your whining!" Said Rhett from where he stood watching with several other dinosaurs. "It missed the bone and barely went deep enough to warrant this."

"Yeah, well let's see you in my place!" Shorty said as he grit his teeth.

"In his defense, it missed the bone, but it did graze his muscle." Said Littlefoot.

"You shouldn't move around that leg too much." Bron advised.

"Fortunately you shoot with your tail." Said Amber.

As the group watched Shorty's wound getting treated, Pterano landed and walked over to Littlefoot, whispering in the young longneck's ear hole.

"What?!" Littlefoot said, careful to keep his voice down. "When?!"

"Just now." Said Pterano causing Littlefoot to sigh.

"Littlefoot?" Asked Ali, aware that something was up.

"Hang on a sec." Said Littlefoot. Turning to Pterano he said, "Get the others." Pterano nodded and took to the air. Though curious, Ali waited until the others Pterano had gone to fetch had assembled nearby to listen as Pterano explain his news. The gropu was silent for a moment after he'd finished until Doc spoke up.

"Aquatic maneuvers. It seems Ravage is responding to our attack on the supply lines."

"This is too soon. We haven't been able to establish adequate naval defenses yet." Said Blade.

"Not to mention the fact that Littlefoot and the others from the last mission are still tired and Shorty is injured." Said Senka.

"I, on the other hand, can still go." Littlefoot pointed out.

"I can try to take Shorty's place." Drake volunteered.

"Thanks. Sorry, though. You don't have Stone of Cold Fire powers; you'd never be able to shoot a rock hard enough and you'd be in danger without the additional protection."

"Besides, you shouldn't count me out just yet." Added Shorty as he limped over. Bron looked at him with concern but said nothing upon seeing the determination on his adopted son's face.

"Are you sure we should send the children alone?" He asked.

"They're not alone, they'll be with Elsie and Grey Fin, who are both adults." Said Sawtooth.

"Shouldn't we send someone else?" Asked Mr. Threehorn. Most of the kids, along with Scythe, Streakclaw and Bron, cringed; Littlefoot, Shorty and Blade looked up, the memories of the day before flooding back.

"Please no." They all said simultaneously.

In the end, Littlefoot had selected Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike and Shorty to go with him on Elise. They were planning on trying to hold off any potential threat, hoping for the best. One of their hopes, was that Ravage would be unsure of their strength and only send a small group to test them. As they all got ready, Drake walked over.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can't help with." He said in an almost imploring manner. Littlefoot and the others looked on incredulously.

"I've never seen anyone so anxious to get into a fight. Save for Cera of course." Said Littlefoot, earning him an angry growl from Cera. "Alright; you can help Spike with the larger rocks." After fifteen minutes they were ready and left, escorted by Harbinger and Senka, to rendezvous with Elsie and Grey Fin outside in the river that led to and from the valley's underwater tunnel. It took the about twenty minutes to make the trek, from the Great Valley into the edges of the Mysterious Beyond and to the riverbank.

"Well, here we are." Said Littlefoot staring out across the river to the sea in the distance. Petrie and Ducky froze and gulped nervously.

"What's wrong dearies?" Asked Elsie, having been there waiting when they'd arrived. They were now waiting for Grey Fin who was coming in from the sea.

"It's big water." Ducky replied.

"Well, what's wrong with Big Water?"

"Big, big, big, big water." Began Ducky "It's very big, big, big, big water. It's deep and dark and dangerous."

"It's scary and it's strangerous," Joined Petrie. "And things could re-arranger us. In that big water."

"Big, big, big, big water," Started Drake. "It's awfully big, big, big, big water. It's nice on top, but down below, what's hiding in the undertow, you wonder, but you just don't know; in that big water." He stopped at the looks he was getting from the others sans Ducky and Petrie.

"Things could be swimming around, under there, way down deep." Sang Petrie.

"Very, very deep!" Said Ducky. "Things with googily eyes, under there, and sharpilly teeth."

"All those sharpilly teeth!" Said Petrie.

"Things that squish, and things that squirt, and squeeze you 'round your belly. Things with giant, jagged claws, and things made out of jelly. Things that bite and things that never sleep  
In that big, big, big, big water." Ducky and Petrie sang together. "We hate that big, big, big, big water; We wish the sun would fly up and make the water dry up, we'd like to say good-bye yup; To that big water. Big water."  
Elsie had a shocked look on her face, but it was another voice that spoke up.

"Dry up? Now that was uncalled-for." Everyone turned to see the gray swimming sharptooth approaching.

"Glad you could join us Grey Fin." Said Littlefoot.

"Glad to be of help once more."

"Come on you two. It's not so bad; we've been out on the water before." Cera said turning to Ducky and Petrie.

"Yes but always trouble in Big Water." Said Petrie.

"Oh yes, yes, yes. Remember?" Said Ducky.

"Alright everyone, let's go." Said Littlefoot, climbing onto Elsie's back before Cera start an argument. Everyone boarded with no mishap though when Shorty climbed on, he took a bad step.

"Rrrrnnn!" He groaned, shifting his weight to his good leg.

"Stay off that leg." Said Littlefoot.

"Don't have to tell me twice."

"Good luck." Said Harbinger.

"And be careful out there." Added Senka.

"Okay, now let's go kick some sharpteeth tail!" Said Cera as Elsie and Grey Fin began to swim through the channel heading towards the open ocean.

"Thanks." Said Grey Fin.

"Oh yeah, sorry."

After a few minutes of swimming, the small group eventually reached the mouth of the channel. where it met the ocean. They could see very far out because the was a fogbank just ahead of them.

"Well, we here." Said Petrie. "And no trouble. Let's go back."

"Not quite."

"Grey Fin?"Asked Littlefoot staring down at the swimming sharptooth beside Elsie.

"There are five swimmers; Branimir with two others and Tip-Nose with another swimming sharptooth." Littlefoot considered this for a minute before replying.

"Can you handle Tip-Nose and the other swimming sharptooth if we take the other three?"

"Consider it done." Said Grey Fin before slipping underwater and moving forth. Turning back, Littlefoot tried to find any signs of trouble ahead, but it was hard to see and they were quickly getting frustrated.

"Great. We can't see a thing through this fog." Muttered Shorty.

"Steady. Everyone steady." Littlefoot ordered. A strange low bellow was heard coming from the fog. Petrie and Ducky hugged each other shaking slightly.

"There." Drake whispered, pointing to some distorted silhouettes in the fog. The shapes grew larger and less ambiguous as they drew closer.

"Uh-oh." Said Cera as Branimir and two other swimmers appeared out of the fog. All three easily towered above them; Branimir the tallest of the trio.

"Don't panic." Elsie advised. They knew they were outnumbered, but now seeing the size of all their opponents was alarming to say the least.

"How can we win? We're outnumbered, one-to-three." Littlefoot whispered to her.

"Even a mismatch can be negated with well performed maneuvers." Was the response.

"Right. Let's get moving; quietly. No sense in waiting for them to surround us." Said Littlefoot. "Elsie, move up on the left; let's try flanking. Hopefully they haven't spotted us yet."

"Right. Let's use the size differences to our advantage." Said Cera.

"If we can breach their defenses we may have a chance but careful not to get caught between two or all three." Drake suggested.

"Petrie, Ducky, load up and get ready."

"They haven't spotted us yet." Ducky said, surprised.

"Ooh, let's keep it that way." Petrie said, just barely keeping his teeth from chattering. They were now directly on the right of the trio, facing out towards sea, while the Sharpteeth swimmers faced opposite, moving forward. The two swimmers behind Branimir moved with an unflinching determination that was serving the Great Valley group well. Unfortunately, Branimir was much more attentive. The group saw him stop and glance down. Littlefoot looked confused for a moment then it hit him, as he followed what Branimir was looking at back to themselves.

"Blast! Our wake." He hissed through clenched teeth. At that moment Branimir had completely followed the trail with his gaze and was looking right at them. It was now or never. "Fire!!!" Littlefoot yelled. Ducky and Petrie dropped their rocks which Shorty immediately began to shoot over with his tail, while Spike and Drake pushed the larger stones to Cera who headbutted them with all her might. Branimir's eyes widened as he saw the incoming barrage. At the last moment he sank deeper into the water, making all shots miss. The swimmer on his left though wasn't so lucky. As several of the rocks splashed harmlessly into the water, their varying range made a trail until eventually several raked the large swimmer, catching it in the back and shoulders.

"Did we get 'em?" Asked Petrie, trying to stare out into the distance.

"Yes, but not the way we wanted." Littlefoot replied.

"They're onto us." Said Drake.

"They're turning to chase." Shouted Cera.

"Turn into the wind! Everybody form up and make a line!" Littlefoot shouted his orders. "Elsie get as close to the water as you can!" As the kids came together in a straight line, running lengthwise on Elsie, the green swimmer lowered her head closer to the water, stretching out her neck as she did so. While they slid with a graceful ease over the water, the three enemy swimmers were slowly bobbing from side to side as they lumbered forward. Littlefoot's friends looked confused, until Drake spoke up.

"I get it." He said watching the water lapping across Branimir's large chest. Similar effects were also visible on the other two swimmers, to less extent but still clearly visible. "Their large size makes them harder to keep up."

"Yeah, plus the fact that the wind is causing the water to be a lot more tumultuous than usual." Said Cera.

"Right. Because Elsie's body is leaner, it's easier for her to cut through the water with less resistance." Said Littlefoot. A geyser of water erupted to their left as a large rock just missed them.

"We're not out of trouble yet." Elsie reminded them, bringing their attention back to what was going on. "What are you thinking we should do now?"

"Quick into the fog!" Ordered Littlefoot. Elsie made it into the fog well ahead of the other swimmers, her figure and those of the kids on her back distorting before vanishing all together.

"After them!" Yelled one of the Sharpteeth swimmers.

"Hold!" Shouted a fast biter on Branimir's back.

"Impressive." Thought Branimir. "They must have known we wouldn't fight in the fog nor would we fire blindly into it. A dangerous gamble but a smart one." The two swimmers with Branimir, began moving around to the sides trying to form a small triangular blockade. As the trio waited, no one was aware of a dark shape moving underwater beneath them. Water suddenly burst upwards as Elsie quickly breached the surface of the water.  
"What?! Behind us!" Shouted Branimir, turning to find himself face to face with his enemies.

"Fire!!" Littlefoot cried out. Cera, Shorty, Spike and Drake charged the largest rock they had, hitting it together. At the last possible instant, Branimir moved his head to the side and the boulder scraped his cheek as it flew straight on, crashing into the swimmer behind him.

"Aaahh!!" Yelled the sharpteeth on it as they fell into the water. Branimir looked on with wide-eyed surprise.

"No way! We missed!" Shouted Littlefoot. "That was right there!" Branimir began backing away so he wasn't so close and narrowed his eyes, thinking. He didn't have to think long as a rock sliced out of the fog a slammed the water beside him. As he looked in the direction it came from, he saw the fog beginning to thin out along the shoreline and the on the shore stood several Great Valley dinosaurs. A quick look around confirmed his suspicion that there were also valley dinosaurs on the opposite shore. They'd been stalled long enough for the Great valley dinosaurs to position themselves along the shorelines, thus they'd effectively swam right into ambush.

"Fall back!"

"What?!" Asked the remaining swimmer.

"I said fall back!" As the two turned back and swam away as fast as they could, Littlefoot looked around confused as to why they were retreating until he saw the dinosaurs on shore.

"Yeah!!!" He shouted. The others looked around and spotted the groups ashore, and began cheering as well.

Littlefoot and the others finally came ashore after they'd located Grey Fin. He was injured and bleeding from various cuts and bites, but aside from that, he was ultimately none the worse for wear.

"You alright?" Asked Littlefoot.

"Yep." Said Grey Fin. "Tip-Nose's friend isn't though. However, I can't take the credit. Idiot did himself in. Head first into the side of an underwater cave." Littlefoot nodded before turning to the shore group who'd joined up with the ones from the opposite shore.

"When did you guys decide to come?"

"Shortly after you left. We figured we could provide crossfire should they attempt to cross the waterway." Said Blade.

"We figured we could help you out in this way at least." Added Scythe.

"Thanks everyone."

Ravage glared at Branimir as he berated the swimmer.  
"You couldn't even destroy a single swimmer. Just one! You had two swimmers left." Branimir nodded. "So why didn't you finish them off?!"

"They could outmaneuver us easily. That's how we lost one of our own." Ravage growled but said nothing. He wasn't stupid, he knew what maneuverability meant in battle.

"Very well." He rumbled. "Perhaps we'll try again under more favorable conditions. At least now we know they aren't fully prepared for water combat." As Ravage walked away Branimir narrowed his eyes, saying nothing, only shaking his head.


	13. Infinite Tide

A/N: Here it is, chapter 13, aka the writer's block chapter. I could not figure out the details for this thing and the next have been two chapters are all but ready to go for some time. At least now it's done, and I can move on.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Land Before Time; it's sequels, or any of its characters.

Land Before Time: Remnants  
Chapter 13: Infinite Tide

"Hey Littlefoot, I'm telling you there's nothing out here." Said Cera. Littlefoot, Cera, Petrie, Shorty, Ruby and Ali had travelled into the Mysterious Beyond to see if they could find the location of any enemy sharpteeth and hopefully do some spying. Unfortunately, so far they'd had no luck. Plus, they hadn't told any what they were going to do, which meant they'd get into trouble with the adults when they returned. Still, Littlefoot had thought it worth the trouble if they could figure out Ravage's next move.

"Well, we should still keep looking." Said Ali.

"Hmph! There's nothing of interest in this wasteland." Insisted Cera. Ruby, Petrie and Shorty exchanged a glance.

"Come on guys let's go." Said Shorty. Staying in one spot in the Mysterious beyond was dangerous. Not to mention, not a very smart move.

"Yes, we should not stay put and be sharpteeth snacks." Agreed Ruby. The others nodded and continued their trek through the jungle. They were moving so fast, they nearly shot past a nearby lagoon.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, stop!" Littlefoot said hurriedly, pulling up short of running past.

"What, what?" Said Shorty, a bit impatiently.

"That's Branimir." Littlefoot indicated through the trees. Just beyond, they could see Branimir in a lagoon with several fast-biters either on his back or beside him.

"How do we get by?" Asked Ruby.

"On the count of three, we rush past." Said Littlefoot. Everyone nodded and got into position, getting ready to make a break for it. "One...two…three!" They quickly got up and ran as fast as they could to the other side. However, just as they darted past the clearing, the giant swimmer noticed them and brought his head and neck down to block their path.

"Whoa! Hang on there! What's the hurry?"

"You're the enemy!" Cera shouted. Branimir and the sharpteeth looked amused.

"True, but we're not going to fight you here."

"What?"

"Our battlefield is out in big water. We're not going to bring our fights ashore. Nor do we wish to fight you here."

"Huh?" Said Shorty.

"We have you outnumbered. It's not a fight; it's not even fair." Said one of the fast-biters, a female.

"What do you care about fair?"

"Look, what will it prove? We see that you're strong, we want to fight you at where you are strongest, not at a disadvantage." Said Branimir.

"You have honor." Said Ali.

"You could say that." Said Branimir. "We just want to talk."

"I'll right, we're listening." Said Littlefoot.

"First, you already know me. This is Siren, Toug, Selk, Kiri, Shard, Dawn, Fly and Loric." Said Branimir indicating the fast-biters with him.

"You already know me," Said Littlefoot. "But this is Ali, Cera, Petrie, Shorty and Ruby." Branimir nodded before continuing.

"Anyway as I was saying, this is Ravage's war, not ours."

"Then why do you fight for him?" Asked Shorty, accusingly.

"We don't fight for him, we fight for the Mysterious Beyond."

"But we want to save the Mysterious Beyond! Why not join us?" Asked Littlefoot. Branimir shook his head.

"Someone has to keep an eye on Ravage. He is not _our_ leader, but this is still our home and our loyalty belongs to it; we have to make sure Ravage doesn't mess it up too much. Siren?" One of the sharpteeth, the one that had spoken before, leapt off Branimir's back.

"There is something that requires your immediate attention. Otherwise Ravage might have something to say." She said. The group frowned but Cera just growled and prepared to charge.

"Hey wait a minute!" Said Littlefoot blocking her.

"She was just threatening us! This is obviously a trap. I say we fight them." Said Cera. Branimir frowned but said nothing.

"I don't think that was a threat." Ali said. "She meant Ravage will mess up things in the general sense."

"It's a trap." Cera said slowly as if talking to a hatchling.

"What would Blade say if he were here?" Said Littlefoot, closing his eyes and thinking. "'Can we afford not to trust them and run the risk that they're right'?"

"That is a decision you must make on your own." Replied Toug.

"I'm not asking that you trust me. Just listen." Said Branimir.

"Alright."

"Ravage has found a rare group of swimmers. These swimmers are highly skilled, capable of incredible speed and strength. Ravage couldn't afford running the risk that the Great Valley would become their allies so he struck first."

"You mean made allies with them?" Asked Petrie. Branimir shook his head.

"No, he means an attack." Said Siren.

"So, where do we come in?"

"One survived. Find it and protect it." Said Branimir.

"Wait, why are telling us this?" Shorty asked suspiciously.

"I fight for the Mysterious Beyond, but I can't let such a magnificent species be wiped out just like that."

"You were where?" Roared Mr. Threehorn as Littlefoot and his friends explained what happened upon returning home. Littlefoot cringed. Even though this war wasn't the authority of Threehorn, that still didn't make him any less scary. Or loud.

"You did what?" Added Bron, a little more calmly. Littlefoot sighed and explained the situation to the gathered adults again, from their sojourn into the Mysterious Beyond to their encounter with Branimir.

"This is a trap. I say we ignore it." Said Topsy, when Littlefoot finished.

"Thank you." Said Cera sounding exasperated. Blade looked thoughtful for a moment before deciding to speak up.

"Can we afford risking that they're telling the truth?" He asked.

"That's what I said." Replied Littlefoot.

"They're right." Said Grandpa Longneck. "We should keep an open-mind. And besides, we should help those in need. Regardless of whether or not they are potential allies." Several murmurs of accordance went up from the others.

"Then it's agreed. We move out immediately." Said Trachor.

A small gray-green swimmer jetted along the surface of the water as fast as it could. Behind it came the annoyed and angry growls of several pursuing sharpteeth on either shore. As it swam, it noticed the water becoming shallow. If it kept going it would end up  
trapping itself. Looking around, the swimmer spotted a tangled mess of thick tree roots and branches in the water and ashore, making a safe haven around a really small pool of water. The swimmer dove under the water surfacing, heading on to the other side of the branches. The pursuing sharptooth jumped but crashed into the branches, unable to break through. One of them roared angrily, the sound sending shivers running down the swimmer's spine.

"Ravage isn't going to be pleased." Said one of the sharpteeth in its own tongue.

"Don't worry." Replied another. "It's trapped. If it tries to leave, we've got it."

"How do we even know where they're at?" Asked Shorty. The group was deep in the Mysterious Beyond and had been following large waterways, under the assumption that those were necessary for large swimmers like Branimir to have maneuverability.

"Simple. We find Ravage." Blade replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That would be wise. He's not known for being subtle." Agreed Trachor.

"It's a good thing we have an accomplished tracker among us." Said Littlefoot. Shorty stopped and looked around questioningly.

"Who?"

"Me." Said Harbinger walking past him. They continued on, led by Harbinger until they came to large, albeit shallow looking lake. The water was still but incredibly mucky.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Asked Mr. Threehorn.

"It's the only way they could've gone." Harbinger replied.

"Eh, doesn't look too bad." Said Bron regarding the still water.

"Huh. Looks like we're wading." Said Littlefoot. He walked into the water and immediately felt something was wrong.

"What kinda water is this?" Asked Scythe as he tried to take a step after moving into the water and nearly falling in, finding his feet stuck.

"There's something wrong with it. I don't think its mud, is it?" Asked Streakclaw, lowering his face near the surface to study the water around his feet.

"Urgh, this water is so murky!" Said Cera extricating her foot with difficulty. It was as if the water itself was sticking to them.

"Indeed. It is very difficult to move." Agreed Blade as he walked past Mr. Threehorn, who was pulling so roughly he nearly fell in. Blade himself was moving really slowly unable to move any faster through the murk.

"Just keep a steady pace and try not to stop or fall in." Said Littlefoot, lifting his paws high with each step. They kept walking slowly and with extreme difficulty. After a few minutes Littlefoot realized Blade had stopped and he looked up to see the sharptooth glaring at the water. "Blade?"

"It's like the very make up of the water has been altered. But how is that possible?"

"Let's just get out of here as fast as we can." Said Shorty.

The sharpteeth could almost reach, but the branches and roots were too thick and the water too deep. Instead, they were attempting to coax the swimmer out. Ravage, who had since joined the pursuers, reached a clawed hand through the roots, kneeling as close to the branches as he could.  
"Come out little swimmer. We promise we won't hurt you." One of the sharpteeth gave a quick laugh at that. "Shut up!"

"Come on, we'll help you." Said another sharptooth in its own tongue, malice thinly veiled in his voice. The swimmer looked up, and saw that it had a long scar along the left side of its face that ran to a claw. Both its left eye and the claw were red. The swimmer gasped.

"There you are." Said Ravage.

"Don't move sharptooth!" The sharpteeth whirled around to see the entire Great Valley team behind them. The fast-biters screeched in surprise alerting the other sharpteeth.

"What? How did they know we were here?" Ravage yelled as he scrambled to his feet.

"You don't massacre an entire species without us finding out about it." Said Littlefoot.

"Let 'em go if you know what's good for you." Added Blade.

"Oh is that a threat?"

"It's a warning." Blade replied calmly. "One that we will carry out."

"Then bring it on. Attack!"

"Stop them!" As the dinosaurs rush forward, Littlefoot decided to look for the swimmer. He had to keep his promise to Branimir, and he had to save a life.

"Where's the swimmer at?" Littlefoot asked.

"There!" Shouted Streakclaw.

"Where?" Asked Scythe.

"Over there!" Yelled Harbinger, engaging a large sharptooth, while pointing. The swimmer had escaped the confines of its small pool.

Littlefoot noticed a group of sailbacks heading into the water to chase down the swimmer. He knew he had to act fast and divert their attention.

"Hey!" Shouted Littlefoot, transforming as he ran.

"Get him!" Shouted the lead sailback. Two rushed forth only to be met by Littlefoot, rearing up and blocking them, pushing both back simultaneously. Both crashed onto their backs in the river.

"Really '_get him!_'? That's your plan '_get him_'?" Asked one of the fallen sailbacks to its leader.

"Blade, Trachor! Let's surround and attack these guys simultaneously!" Shouted Littlefoot to the two nearby sharpteeth. Both turned and went to assist him. The two crashed into the sailbacks pushing them back while Littlefoot took on the other.

"Circle around and close in on them!" Trachor yelled.

"Get them back to back; don't let them move!" Littlefoot ordered. As the trio positioned themselves to round up the sailbacks, Blade noticed something, a black blur, out of the corner of his eyes.

"Littlefoot!" He shouted. "Behind you!" Littlefoot turned just in time to avoid getting kicked by Ravage.

"Very good." Said the dark sharptooth. "But let's see how you handle this!" He began swiping, biting and kicking wildly, forcing Littlefoot to step back each time. Ravage began to push him back towards deeper water. Blade and Trachor tried to move to help him but were blocked by the sailbacks, forcing the two to fight them first.

"Come on kid! What have you got!" Ravage roared leaping forth, whipping out his tail. Liittlefoot leapt back, and in a flash of blue light, caught the tail. Ravage pulled free and they began fighting once more, each attacking and dodging the other's blows in turn, both apparently un aware that they were already at the water.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Asked Scythe, stopping for a moment to stare out into the water.

"What are you seeing?" Said Streakclaw as he held off two fast-biters.

"They're fighting on water." Scythe replied, blinking. Streakclaw push the two sharpteeth away, into the water.

"So?"

"No I mean literally, _on water_." The older fast-biter looked around to see that they were indeed fighting as if the water was solid ground. Beside them, Cera had also stopped and was staring in shock.

"Is anyone else seeing this or have I lost my mind?" She asked.

"Your mind is as intact as it has ever been." Replied Scythe.

As they reached the opposite shore, Ravage moved to bite Littlefoot, but stopped short when Blade was suddenly there, kicking out towards his face. He and Trachor had finally finished with sailbacks. Blade missed since Ravage stopped, landing between him and Littlefoot. Ravage turned and charged, but Blade leapt into the air and spinning around, whipping his tail out. It caught Ravage in the face sending him flying. He crashed onto the ground, slamming into some trees. Littlefoot took this time to look after the swimmer and was surprised by what he saw. It was much smaller than Elsie, most likely a youth like himself and his friends.

"It's a kid." Said Blade stepping beside him. Before either could do much more, they noticed the raucous of the fighting was getting dangerously close to the exhausted swimmer and on many occasions, sharpteeth tried to break away to attack it, only to get stopped at the last instant.

"Don't let them approach!" Roared Blade.

"Fight them off!" Littlefoot yelled. As he stood, Ravage stared at the scene and growled angrily. The situation was going badly since he hadn't brought along his entire forces. It hadn't been necessary just to deal with the swimmers. He made up his mind.

"We did our job; retreat!" Ravage ordered, thinking one youth wasn't worth the trouble. Turning to Littlefoot, Ravage growled lowly, "We're through." His eyes narrowed, glaring at the young longneck. "For now." He added menacingly. As the sharpteeth retreated, Branimir caught Littlefoot's eyes and gave the slightest of nods, barely perceptible.

Littlefoot saw the swimmer by the water's edge resting and watching the sharpteeth retreat. She had a certain grace about her that boasted speed and endurance as well as incredible strength, with blue eyes and a sleek grayish green body with small spikes on her back and head. Unlike his current form and of course Blade, her spikes seemed more of a species distinguishing feature than for offensive and defensive purposes, and he judged her to be only slightly older than Hyp, Nod and Mutt.

"You alright?" Littlefoot asked approaching and retracting the spikes on his body.

"Yeah I'm fine. My name's Nessania by the way." She said.

"I'm Littlefoot."

"So you're the leader of this group?" Nessania asked, mistaking Littlefoot for a young adult.

"Yep, despite my age." He replied with shrug.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"Oh." Said Littlefoot catching a look at his reflection. He quickly de-transformed, now having to look up at Nessania. The look on her face was so funny Littlefoot almost laughed.

"Wow that was really cool! How'd you do that?" She asked when she finally snapped out of her surprise.

"Too long a story."

"Come on everyone." Blade called, "Back to the valley."

"Escort the kid through the waterways." Trachor added.

Later that evening, as the sun began to set and the sky turned orange, Littlefoot walked a patrol around the valley. He wasn't needed for it, but wanted some time to think. Looking around, he saw several herds preparing to settle in for the coming night. As Littlefoot strode at the edge of a tree line, he heard some ruffling of leaves and stopped.

"Psst! Littlefoot!" Littlefoot leaned forward squinting a bit to make out the shape in the shadows.

"Siren?" He asked, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to give you some information on Ravage's plan." She replied.

"But won't he find you missing?" Siren shook her head.

"I'm supposed to be out scouting. He'll never know where I went."

"The attack on the swimmers, the attempt to breach the Great Valley via a waterway, bringing several large specialized swimmers, this is all part of a combat operation Ravage calls Infinite Tide; and it's not over yet. Be careful, he's planned something big. Whatever happens, don't let him get an advantage." The fast-biter stood and turned to leave, then stopped, looking back at him. "Oh, and if it seems like Ravage is backing off of Infinite Tide, don't believe it. He'd never bring Branimir in if he was going to give it up." As she left Littlefoot stared at the ground deep in thought. Just when things seemed to get slightly better, in reality they got bleaker.


	14. Diversion

A/N: I meant to have this up early last week but storms played havoc with my computer. I am already halfway through on chapter 15, though it will be a bit different from the rest so far.

Disclaimer: Same as ever. I don't own the Land Before Time; it's sequels, or any of its characters. Except those which I create and write up.

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 14: Diversion

Littlefoot stood near the Thundering Falls, thinking. His friends were nearby, each waiting for him to say something.

"Ravage still has a much more powerful water based attack force and what have we managed to get?" Asked Cera, fed up with waiting. Littlefoot looked to Elsie who floated in the large lake. Beside her were Mo and Nessania.

"Well, then let's see…. We have one and…" His eyes fell on Nessania and Mo. He quickly calculated any situation they could assist on. They were too young to be of much help. "One."

"We can't wait for them to grow up." Said Scythe stating the obvious.

"We know."

"Maybe we can teach them to use powers like Littlefoot." Suggested Rhett.

"That'd take too long." Said Streakclaw.

"Yeah, most of us still have trouble, and no one has been able to match him except for Blade, and he doesn't know how to use his abilities at will." Agreed Shorty.

"Well then, what?" Asked Cera.

"We have four." Said Elsie.

"Four?" Asked Ducky.

"With Grey Fin and two others."

"Uh, not to sound ungrateful but, that's it?" Said Amber.

"That's all we managed so far." Ali replied.

"Urgh! This is hopeless!" Amber vented. "We have one big glaring weakness right here for the sharpteeth to exploit and we still haven't been able to rectify it!" Ali noticed Littlefoot particularly quiet at this outburst.

"Littlefoot?" She asked.

"I'll get a situation report with Blade."

"Blade, give me your opinion of our situation thus far. How is the war going? And please no rainbows and sunshine like the adults would go about. I want realistic, not optimistic." Said Littlefoot as the group walked up to Blade and Sawtooth. The large blue sharptooth eyed him curiously. They were up on a hill that allowed them to overlook most of the Great Valley. Blade sighed.

"The support of many sharpteeth is still up in the air. It is perhaps the only reason we are still here. Realistically, we prevent Ravage from making much leeway, but we ourselves haven't been able to make gains either." He paused for a moment weighing his words. "This is unlike the first war. Despite all our preparations, we are disorganized. Our forces are badly disheveled. As you've earlier noted, we still don't have a naval force and there are holes in much of our defenses." He sighed. "For most parts, all we've been doing is matching Ravage blow for blow, unable to surpass and exceed him. His tactics are, unconventional, and often confusing. His priorities shift rapidly with the turns of the war and for the most part we've barely been able to keep pace. In spite of everything we've done, we haven't been able to curb Ravage's efforts. I attribute our still being here to luck. We know from Branimir's group that he will continue with water based assault, but and what? I seriously doubt that's all he'll do, yet we have absolutely no idea what's his next move. Unpredictability is dangerous. An unpredictable enemy, if left unchecked, can become our worst nightmare."

"It's this bad?" Asked Littlefoot.

"If we're not careful, we may soon reach a point where, theoretically, Ravage could win this war in one decisive strike."

"So we should try to bring an end to this war as quickly as possible?" Asked Shorty.

"Fast and sloppy, yeah that'll be the way to go." Said Blade. "We're at a point where we can't afford mistakes."

"We should try to bring an end as quickly _and_as efficiently possible." Said Sawtooth.

After the discussion with Blade Littlefoot decided it was time to come up with a new plan of action to act on immediately. And one whose unconventional nature might be dangerous.

"Alright, listen up everyone!" Littlefoot called. "Ravage is up to something and we need to find out what."

"We need to spy on the sharpteeth." Explained Shorty.

"And just _how_are we supposed to do this?" Asked Cera. Littlefoot and Shorty exchanged a glance like they knew something the others didn't.

"Littlefoot's got a plan." Said Drake, not missing the exchange.

"Maybe. But it'll be dangerous."

"I'll go." Shorty volunteered.

"Me too." Said Ruby. Littlefoot had to admire Ruby's resolve. She didn't even know what the plan was, and yet was already volunteering for it.

"Fine. You two'll head into the Mysterious Beyond as we simultaneously attack Ravage's forces. That should provide you with a distraction to slip through."

"Be fast, be thorough." Shorty joked.

"Don't mess up." Said Littlefoot, slightly annoyed. "Be patient."

"Just gather whatever information we can." Said Ruby. Littlefoot nodded.

"And more importantly-" Shorty cut him off.

"Don't fail?"

"Don't die." Littlefoot finished.

As Shorty and Ruby went to prepare, Littlefoot told Blade his plan, who in turn passed on the information to the rest of the Valley. Bron had reluctantly agreed to go along with it. At the moment Littlefoot stood beside Ali, with Blade a few feet behind them. They watched various dinosaurs training and preparing. Ali shook her head.  
"All this for revenge." It was obvious she was talking about Ravage's reason for the war. Blade glanced at the children wondering if he should explain more of how the world was really like. It was better to be forewarned since they were seeing it all for themselves anyway.

"There are always those within the world who are just insane." The sound of an explosion resounded from several feet away. An exploder had just gone off. They turned to see Scythe sitting on the grass, looking around completely disorientated. Several dinosaurs had gathered around him and were trying to talk him to his senses. Blade sighed, shaking his head.  
"And then there are those who don't think things through."

"What?" Scythe practically yelled.

"Scythe, be careful with exploders." Said one dinosaur. "You don't want it blowing up in your face like that."

"What? I can't understand!" Scythe shouted.

"Quiet down!" Hissed the same dinosaur.

"I don't understand!"

"Shh!" Hushed another dinosaur.

"He'll be fine." Littlefoot told his friends. "The sound just temporarily deafened him."

With preparations complete, The Great Valley was awaiting Shorty and Ruby's send off to move themselves. The group gathered together for final instructions before launching the mission. Littlefoot stood in the middle giving last minute directions. As he finished he decided once more to reiterate their priority, lest someone got a stupid idea.

"Remember everyone. The goal is not to stop Ravage, merely to distract him. Do what you can, but don't let yourself be captured or die. We have other priorities here." He looked at everyone. "The success of this plan is critical. Any possible information we can gather from Ravage would be immeasurably invaluable."

"All's ready you two." Said Pterano. He had volunteered to fly Shorty and Ruby in. "Let's get going."

"Be careful." Bron told Shorty.

"Aren't I always?" Bron, Littlefoot, Ali, Blade and Ruby exchanged incredulous looks.

"Do we need to answer that?" Asked Blade as Littlefoot shook his head at his brother. Shorty smiled sheepishly.

The journey into the Mysterious Beyond was a mostly silent one. No one talked, or grunted or made any kind of sound, short of heavy footfalls that couldn't be helped. They wanted to maintain their secrecy to attempt an ambush. It took them around an hour to reach their intended ambush site. Ravage would have naturally learned from the assault on the supply trail, so they were going to have to come up with something new.

"Alright, set exploders here, here and here." Said Littlefoot marking the spots in the dirt and grass, after a quick study of the area. The group broke into three and began laying exploders where designated, covering them with dirt and leaves. "Three clusters of five per location. Shooters, to your positions." Since throwing the exploders would give away their position, Blade had recommended just setting the on the ground. That left them with the problem of detonating them; a plan that was more or less solved with shooters who would fire flaming sticks into each cluster to set them off. The sudden cacophony of sounds would hopefully prove to be enough to allow them to maintain the element of surprise.

"Alright, everyone." Said Blade, as the last of the traps was laid. "You all know your tasks. Take up holding positions and standby." Everyone nodded and proceeded to their hiding places. Larger dinosaur including Bron and Grandma and Grandpa Longneck had stayed behind as they were too large to hide. As it was, Blade, Senka, Harbinger and Trachor were the biggest dinosaurs who'd come. Littlefoot looked around at the various dinosaurs hiding near him. Trachor was to his right with several swimmers, clubtails, spiketails and Mr. Threehorn. To his left was Senka on one knee with Harbinger on his stomach just beyond her. Littlefoot's friends were gathered around him with Scythe and Streakclaw practically at his shoulders. In all, their group totaled at around sixty or so dinosaurs. It would be disadvantageous to bring a large force. It took the better part of half an hour before there was any hint of Ravage's group. Finally, the sound of heavy foot falls in the distance betrayed them to the awaiting ambushers.

"They're here." Mouthed Trachor. They watched and waited as the sharpteeth came in to view. Ravage was at the head, looking as vicious and arrogant as ever. If the war effort was having any effect on him it didn't show. A couple of sharpteeth in his group chatted away in hushed voices with their neighbor. Littlefoot didn't know if he should be surprised or not to see that Ravage wasn't even bothering to sniff around as he went, looking for trouble.

"His arrogance may very well be his downfall." Whispered Streakclaw to Littlefoot.

"Careful. His arrogance is not without justification." Cautioned Blade, who was crouched nearby in the shadow of a very large tree. Out of the corner of his eye, Littlefoot saw Harbinger edging forward on his stomach, careful not be seen. He caught Littlefoot's eye and growled lowly. Ravage's forces were in position. Time to spring the trap. Littlefoot gave the signal. Each shooter would signal each other, and they'd all shoot five seconds after the last shooter was informed. The Great Valley group waited, unconsciously holding their breaths. After a few seconds that seemed to span an eternity, all three shooters became aware of the signal. And exactly five seconds from when the last shooter got the signal, the sharpened sticks with the ends lit flew low and true, each striking an exploder in the center of the cluster locations. The exploders went off nearly all at the same time. Naturally, the sharpteeth were shocked and surprised by the sudden onslaught of loud noises and bright flashes. They began hissing and screeching, hopping back and knocking into each other as they scrambled around.

"Shut up and settle down!" Ravage roared from among the chaos, trying to bring order back. "Stand fast! And shut up with your screeching!" Needless to say, he wasn't having the desired effect.

"Three…" Littlefoot whispered.

"Two…" Said Harbinger.

"One…" Said Blade.

"Attack!" Littlefoot ordered. The Great Valley forces rose as one and charged, shooting rocks and yelling to add to the sharpteeth's confusion.

"Attack!" Ravage's voice rose over the din of battle.

As the two groups collided at the edge of the tree line, Littlefoot quickly transformed charging at Ravage. As he did so, Blade and the other Valley sharpteeth went after any large sharptooth they could find.

"Heh. Clashing again I see." Ravage growled as he blocked a strike by Littlefoot's spiked tail.

"End this war Ravage." The dark sharptooth scoffed.

"Why should I? Things are just starting to escalate." Littlefoot's eyes widened but he forced himself to focus.

"There's no reason to fight."

"Then why don't you submit. My sharpteeth will always fight on. We will claim victory. We _will_become the dominate species of this world."

"You're crazy."

"Am I?" Ravage chuckled. "You don't know the half I do."

"Not for long, I hope." Thought Littlefoot. As they fought a nearby fast-biter prepared a sneak attack on Littlefoot. Scythe was nearby fighting another fast-biter and as he defeated it, he jumped to move on to another fight. Scythe leapt at nearly the  
same time as the opposing enemy sharptooth who'd snuck up on Littlefoot. _Crash_! The two fast-biters fell to the ground.

"Oh my nose." Groaned Scythe pinching the end of his face.

"Engage!" Senka yelled to Scythe as she held back a large sailback.

"Come on Scythe!" Littlefoot shouted. "Stay focused!" He whipped out his tail, striking Ravage in the arm. His claw was forced open and Littlefoot saw a small blue thing go flying. A piece of the Stone of Cold Fire!

Amber was fighting of a fast-biter when she saw a small blue rock land near. She saw the sharptooth look towards it and took her advantage. Before it could turn back, she rushed forth practically tackling it, sending the sharptooth tumbling backwards. She dove at the rock at nearly the same time as another sharptooth. She landed first, scooping up the rock in a paw and quickly rolling onto her back to face the sharptooth. It was about to land on her when she kicked out with a rear foot caching it in the chest. There was a flash of blue between her foot and the fast-biter's chest, and the sharptooth was launched backwards much more forcibly than should have been possible naturally.  
"Amber!" Drake yelled. He turned to see him looking at Littlefoot and Ravage's fight. Ravage was gaining the advantage and anyone large enough to help had their hands full with their own battles.

Ravage rammed his head hard into Littlefoot's face. Despite his large transformed size, the young longneck went flying backwards. Littlefoot hit the ground hard, sliding on the mud as he did, de-transforming. He looked up just in time to see Ravage bringing a foot down towards him and rolled aside, barely avoiding getting crushed. Before he could rise, the sharptooth leader kicked mud into his face. Though Littlefoot had seen it coming and closed his eyes, the mud was so gooey that he was unable to wipe it from his face and the more he tried to, the more messy the wet dirt became, a slop of ground that prevent him from seeing. He finally got clean enough and forced his eyes open and saw Ravage striking out with a claw, too close to dodge. To his surprise, Amber leapt in front of him, her right forepaw out over her head. Ravage's claws struck and to Littlefoot's surprise, Amber stopped him, a flash of blue erupting from the point of contact and washing over Amber. As Littlefoot looked on stupefied, he realized the young longneck held a piece of the Stone of Cold Fire in her paw. Looking over, he saw Ravage too held a piece in his attacking claws. _Another __piece! __That__'__s __how __he__'__d __gained __an __upper__hand._ In a flash of blue, Ravage's claws were forced up and he stumbled back.  
"Are you alright?" Amber asked, looking back at Littlefoot who had his mouth open in surprise as he watched what unfolded before him. He closed his mouth and nodded, still too shocked to speak.

As Ravage was busy glaring down the two longnecks, Blade, who'd managed to beat his opponents, leapt into the fray, landing before him and kicked out. Ravage took a step back and Blade, spun kicking out again forcing Ravage to hop backwards, growling in anger. Blade growled back while Amber glared at Ravage, just daring him to strike back. All of a sudden, Blade started laughing. Littlefoot too, chuckled. Ravage snapped back in surprise. His confidence ebbing. _What __was __going __on?_  
"**Enough**! I demand to know what you are laughing at!" He snarled.

"You fool." Said Blade, still chuckling.

"You just got stopped by a child." Said Littlefoot. "An _unpowered_ one at that." Not to mention that the distraction had worked perfectly, though they weren't about to say _that_out loud. Ravage growled threateningly, but before he could even think of attacking, he became acutely aware of the pressing Great Valley forces. Perhaps bidding his time while dwindling his enemies wasn't the best option for now.

"Mark my words, we **will**win this war!" Ravage snarled, leaping backwards, away from the trio.

"We'll be waiting." Blade growled back. As the sharpteeth retreated, Amber sighed, collapsing where she'd stood.

"You okay?" Littlefoot asked her as he struggled to his feet.

"I'll be fine." She replied. "Just really tired." Blade turned to them.

"Well done." He told Amber.

"Thanks." She said. Littlefoot chucked in relief.

"That was way too close for comfort."

Back in the Great Valley Littlefoot limped up to the ambush team to address the outcome of the operation. Ali, Cera, Petrie Spike, Ducky Drake and Amber looked concerned, but Littlefoot gave them a slight shake of the head to show that he was alright and would not need help at the moment. Littlefoot stood before the team and looked around.  
"Congratulations are in order for a job well done." He began. We successfully distracted Ravage's forces and even his patrols were thrown by our ambush. By this time, the infiltration should be inserting into the Mysterious Beyond. However," His tone shifted, becoming more grave and weary. "This battle was nearly a disaster only further underlying Blade's concerns. We quickly fell apart and only through the sharpteeth's confusion and luck were we able to pull ourselves back together before them. I myself am only alive thanks to Amber's timely intervention." The young female smiled slightly, embarrassed that all eyes were now on her. Littlefoot continued, "However, we did accomplish our objective. We were successful, though we must remain cautious and avoid falling into traps."

Deep in the Mysterious Beyond, a single flyer landed in a shadowy forest. Two small dinosaurs leapt from its back and took off running into the trees.  
"Come on! We have to keep moving!" One shouted. Deeper and deeper they went into the Mysterious Beyond.

* * *

In memory of Dan Wheldon  
(22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011)


	15. Into The Mysterious Beyond

A/N: Well I said this chapter would be different. It's a bit shorter, but there's no fighting, instead just focusing on story. It's shorter than most of the other chapters, but consider this a test chapter.

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 15: In The Mysterious Beyond

Shorty and Ruby walked quietly through the trees in the Mysterious Beyond. They didn't speak as the searched for signs of Ravage. Eventually Shorty spotted a large tree up ahead with branches in a way that would allow one to jump to the top, leaping from branch to branch.  
"I'll check ahead." He said. Running forth, he leapt onto the lowest branch. He found his balance, then proceeded to jump to the next, continuing gradually upwards.

"See anything?" Ruby asked. Shorty stared out into the distance, carefully scanning the trees, and frowned. He shook his head. Unbeknownst to either him or Ruby below, two fast-biters were making their way to Ravage's group, just parallel to them. One spotted Ruby.

"Hey!" Said the light colored fast-biter, halting in his tracks to stare at her. "Wow." The other sharptooth stopped and groaned.

"What now?" It said.

"She's…wow!" Said the first dinosaur. His opposite snorted and shook his head, barely even bothering to turn and look.

"Ignore her brother." Said the darker color fast-biter.

"Ehh… I gotta check this out." Said the lighter sharptooth, breaking away. The other rolled it's eyes and called to it.

"I'm going on. You deal with Ravage on your own when you get back."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it Shrieker." The lighter dinosaur said dismissively. As his brother went on, he walked up to Ruby, not the slightest bit unsure and spoke up.

"Hey." Ruby gasped, stepping back. From up his tree, Shorty himself nearly fell out, so sudden had the fast biter appeared. "Hello. I'm Shade." Said the fast biter smiling broadly, in the most nonthreating way it could, making it look awkward with his razor sharp teeth fully visible. He was a light brown color with black stripes while the one called Shrieker had been a dark rut red/brown with similar black stripes.

"R-Ruby." Ruby stuttered fearfully. Shorty tried to position himself to shoot the sharptooth if it attacked, but he could adjust himself too well, lest he'd fall out of the tree.

"Don't be afraid, I won't eat you." Shade said, trying to instill confidence in Ruby. "So what brings you here Ruby?"

"Uh, I'm just looking around."

"Uh-huh." Said Shade, looking as unconvinced as he sounded.

"Why?" Ruby asked nervously. Shade smirked, but not a malicious one like was normal for sharpteeth.

"You're spying on Ravage." Ruby gasped, while Shorty slapped his forehead with his tail. She tried to come up with an alternate explanation, but was drawing blanks. However Shade surprised her with what he said next.

"I can get you closer." Needless to say both leaf-eaters were taken aback.

"Why would you help me?" She asked, narrowing her eyes, suspiciously.

"Let's just say I've taken a liking to you." Ruby's eyes widened in shock. How could she trust some random sharptooth? This was way too good to be true; it had to be a trap. However she remembered her objective and remembered the risks Littlefoot had taken with Branimir had paid off. Maybe, just maybe, she could get lucky too? She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Shade moving on until he stopped and turned, calling back to her.

"Well, you coming?" With that Ruby made up her mind and finally followed him.

"Blast! Ruby, what are you doing?" Shorty though as he leapt down in some bushes. He looked confused but followed too.

Shade led Ruby to an inconspicuous looking area completely devoid of life. Up ahead, Ruby could see a clearing where a large number of sharpteeth were suddenly emerging into. _So __much __for __devoid __of __life_…  
"Here we are." Said Shade. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby saw Shorty, several meters away, dashing forward, and pressing his back against a tree. She wondered if Shade was aware of Shorty's presence by any chance.

"Wait here." Said Shade.

"Where are you going?" Asked Ruby.

"I got be there or they'll come looking." Ruby caught Shorty's eyes and saw the doubt in them. He mistrusted Shade and was wondering if this was a trap. Truth be told, Ruby herself still had some misgivings as he hid behind a tree across from Shorty's. They both peeked around the trunks to see what was going on. The sharpteeth were chatting away in hushed voices as Shade approached. He was almost at the edge of the clearing when the sharpteeth all fell silent, listening to the sound of his footfalls on the grass. All the sharpteeth turned towards the sound, some getting ready to pounce. Shade emerged from the trees walking calmly.

"Relax it's just me." He said. Shorty saw Ravage huff, annoyed and Shrieker roll his eyes. The darker fast biter glared at Shade, but he glared right back, and for whatever reason, Shrieker remained silent.

Ruby and Shorty listened for what seemed like hours. Sometimes the stuff was boring, such a Ravage droning away about how sharpteeth were superior and the valleys would fall and they'd rule supreme, yadda-yadda. Other times they'd get some important bit of information. How many sharpteeth were where and doing what. And one point, Shorty deiced to edge closer, to get a better view of the group and also to hear them better.  
"Our preparations are nearly complete. Soon we'll proceed with our plans." Ravage was saying, as Shorty ducked down behind a fallen log. Somewhere in the group, a Sailback chuckled.

"Berry Valley will never see it coming." It said.

"_Berry __Valley_?" Shorty saw Ruby mouth. "_Why __there_?" He shrugged.

The ever vigilant sharpshooter, Shorty suddenly realized he had a perfect aim on Ravage. He could take him out and end this war now! As he began to aim, he suddenly halted, his thoughts racing. What about Red Claw? Would he become the new sharptooth leader? Would he continue the war? Could he hit both Ravage and Red Claw? Yes, but at this angle Red Claw was blocked by a tree. Repositioning at this point was incredibly risky. And if he did get both, would the sharpteeth just give up, or would they keep fighting? Ravage had been an unwelcome surprise after they'd defeated Seeker. Were there any more surprises out there? Any more family? Would they change their plans? He knew he and Ruby would be caught, but could they end the war? What if Ravage dodged? What if he didn't but survived? Would others die for his choice? This was a choice that would haunt even Littlefoot. If he failed, if the sharpteeth got wise, they'd change their plans and the Great Valley would be caught completely clueless. He had to make a tactical field decision, and he had to make the right one; whatever right was in this scenario.

"Grand. Just grand." Shorty muttered, aborting his aiming. He had barely made his decision when, a fast biter spoke up.

"What about those advantages you wanted? The hostages?"

"Yes. Do tell us your _brilliant _plan." Said Red Claw sarcastically. Ravage growled.

"Ah yes." Said the sharptooth leader. Shorty had since begun to make his way back, towards Ruby. "You see, it's not good to have loved ones in the Mysterious Beyond if you're an enemy. We go after Dara, first. I believe that 'Doc' character is well  
aquatinted with her. Next we go after the pink fast-runner's kin." Shade, set his jaws, teeth bared, but went unnoticed. At the same moment, it was a good thing Shorty was paying close attention and a good thing he had an excellent reaction time. As it was, he clamped a paw over Ruby's mouth just as she gasped. They stood silent, watching the sharpteeth, but there was no indication they'd been heard.

"That son of an Egg Stealer!" Shorty muttered angrily under his breath.

"We gotta go back!" Ruby hissed to Shorty. The young Longneck narrowed his eyes, still looking at the sharpteeth. If they went back, they'd be cutting the mission a bit short. Still, staying would only get the more chances of getting caught as the  
Sharpteeth were starting to get fidgety with excitement. And they still didn't know when Ravage planed to attack Berry Valley. Or _why_.

"Yeah." He said finally. "I think we got all we can."

As the two rushed towards the planned extraction zone, they ran into Guido.  
"What are you doing here?" Asked Shorty, as they stopped for a moment, just long enough for Guido to land on Shorty's head.

"The others sent me to see if there was any information that needed to be deliver as soon as possible." Shorty was confused for a moment before remembering. They'd take a while to get back, as the flyer returning them would have to fly evasively to avoid detection and avoid raising suspicion that would prompt a change in plan by the sharpteeth.

"Guido you must get to Littlefoot." Said Ruby. "Tell him Ravage is going after Dara and my family. Hurry!" The young glider gasped.

"Right!" Said Guido darting up and away on a strong gust of wind.

Half an hour later found Shorty and Ruby stopped, hiding in tall grass.  
"Argh! There's sharpteeth everywhere!" Shorty complained. It was true. While on the way in it had been deserted, the Mysterious Beyond was now crawling with sharpteeth.

"I guess their meeting must have ended for now." Said Ruby, sighing. She wanted to scream in frustration, but was smart enough to keep quiet. They were so focus in finding an opening, they failed to notice a sharptooth approaching behind them.

"Hello, fancy meeting you again." Said Shade. The two started, just barely remaining silent.

"What are you doing here?" Shorty demanded angrily, though careful to keep his voice low.

"Helping." Was the simple response. "Now. Come on." Said Shade. He led them from their hiding spot, every so often pointing out some place to hide, while pretending to sniff around whenever another sharptooth was nearby. The whole way, Shorty glared at Shade suspiciously, though Ruby's opinion was changing as she was regarding him in a new light. In almost no time, they reached a very small clearing where Pterano was waiting.  
"Thank you." Said Ruby, as Shorty mounted on Pterano's back.

"I must stay, least they become suspicious." Said Shade. Shorty shrugged, fine with him. To Pterano's bemusement and Shorty's chagrin, Shade took one of Ruby's claws and kissed it.

"Will I see you again?" Asked Shade. Shorty and Pterano exchanged a confused and amused look.

"Maybe."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Who's the smooth fast biter?" Asked Pterano.

"Eh, some sharptooth we met." Said Shorty indifferently as Ruby climbed up behind him. As Shade watched, Pterano took off, flapping his wings to rise vertically. They then proceeded low to the tree tops, making sudden and random course corrections every so often as they began the long journey home. Shade watched them go then turned smiling. It wasn't a wicked smile, but a genuine and kindly one.

"I hope to see you again Ruby." He whispered into the wind.


	16. Global Dominance

Land Before Time: Remnants

Chapter 16: Global Dominance

"He what?" Littlefoot's yell echoed through the valley. Guido had just finished explaining Ravage's plan to them. Doc, Blade, Ali, Sawtooth and Drake stood gathered around, listening.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa wait a minute." Said Drake. "Ruby's family was here. I saw them! Why would they leave?"

"Ruby thought it was too dangerous as the Great Valley was rapidly becoming a bigger and bigger target of value." Replied Littlefoot. "She suggested that they might be safer away from the valley. Doc suggested they meet with Dara for additional protection."

"That explains why Dara's also a target." Said Ali.

"But how did Ravage find out? You think it could have been Senka; when she was still on their side?" Asked Drake. Sawtooth shook his head, and Littlefoot nodded in agreement with the older sharptooth.

"No. She left Ravage's side because he lied about hurting us. She wouldn't have given them away with Ruby's siblings with them."

"Hn. Somebody could've said something." Said Drake.

"What? Do we need to give you a situation report every time you don't notice something?" Asked Cera, Drake causing to give her an annoyed look.

"They may still be spying on us somehow." Said Ducky.

"Agreed." Littlefoot nodded.

"The more pressing question that now stands; how do we handle this?" Said Sawtooth. "We have to act fast, and I doubt we have time to gather a large group and plan things out."

"Then we'll just have to make it up as we go." Said Littlefoot, looking at Doc. The elder longneck narrowed his eyes. He couldn't let them all risk themselves like this; even for Dara.

"Dara can take care of herself." Said Doc. He knew that at the very least, Ravage was setting a trp. If only they could warn Dara first…

"No way Doc; you've been of much help to us and I am _not_ leaving someone you care for out there to chance." Said Littlefoot. Turning to Sawtooth he added, "We're going to have to move fast if we're going to intercept Ravage." As they spoke, Blade, whose eyes had been rapidly scanning the grass as he ran numerous scenarios through his head, turned and began to walk away. Ali was the first to notice him moving away.

"Where are you going?" She called.

"To call in some friends. I may have a plan." Blade replied.

Ravage stood near a large lake in the Mysterious Beyond, thinking as he stared not at the water, but at the ground.  
"Those flat-teeth have no idea what I have in store or them. Once I launch my Global Dominance Plan, they'll be fighting on so many fronts, they'll never survive. Arghh! But right now I don't have the sheer numbers to attack multiple targets at once. If our upcoming offense succeeds, with can wither away their allies." Ravage paused in his thoughts growling. He looked down and the pieces of the Stone of Cold Fire around him on the ground, before resuming his thought. "Though I hate it, hit-and-run is still the best tactic. Brother, how I wish I had your forces now. If we can keep wearing them out, we can outlast them. But there are other ways to turn the tide of war." This last thought came with an ominous chuckle.

Blade walked swiftly towards the valley's eastern wall, blatantly ignoring the shouts from behind him.  
"Wait, hang on!" Senka called as she tried to keep up with Blade. She had just found out about his intentions from Drake. "Will you hold on for a second?" Blade stopped so suddenly, Senka nearly ran into his spiked back.

"What?" He asked flatly.

"You can't just go out into the Mysterious Beyond alone. Ravage will get suspicious; you'll be ambushed." Blade stared at her stoically, as if waiting for more. "You'll never reach help in time, and Dara and Ruby's family will die. I know you're one of the best, but all Ravage needs to do is delay you just a bit. Or follow you and ambush you when you meet your allies."

"She's right, you know?" Blade and Senka turned to see Harbinger by a large boulder. "I'll go." Blade remained expressionless as he nodded.

Meanwhile, Littlefoot was literally running as he went to gather his skeleton armor and select who'd accompany him simultaneously. Cera sped up to be close at his heels.  
"Cera, you, Ali, Ducky, Petrie and Spike are to remain here with your father, my father and grandparents and Trachor and Sawtooth." Littlefoot was saying. Streakclaw and Harbinger were still absent, the fast-biter having gone to assist the larger sharptooth in his search. "We need you guys to defend the valley if this is a trick or worse, a trap. And I need to gather a team quickly."

"Listen, I know we're in a rush, but why don't we see if we can get some of the sharpteeth here to help out?" She asked.

"We have several sharpteeth taking refuge in the Great Valley. However, aside from Blade, Streakclaw, Sawtooth, Harbinger and Chomper's parents, who fought in the first war, and Scythe, Trachor and Senka who joined us now, none of them have decided to join our fight and we won't force them to." Littlefoot replied, not stopping.

"And yet we just let them live here? Like freeloaders?" Said Cera indignantly. "I say we have them fight for their keep!" Littlefoot stopped and Cera nearly ran into him as he turned to face her. This gave the others the opportunity to catch up and Littlefoot noted Senka had joined them.

"We are _not_ Ravage; and we are _not_ Seeker. We will _not_ force anyone to fight for us." Said Littlefoot, calmly but firmly. "We _will not_ win this war by sacrificing our morals."

"That may not be an option." Senka muttered under her breath.

Ravage stood at a lake edge, the same one as before, deep in thought. He had moved only to check on the gathered group the stood, sat or slept in a nearby clearing, before returning to the spot. He was going to move up his plans in a big way and he needed a second in command. Someone who could keep the others of his force in check, especially with Red Claw around. At the thought of Red Claw, he bared his teeth.  
"Red Claw isn't a second; he's just a further menacing force to scare up recruits, and keep them in check. That traitorous vermin would betray me at the first opportunity. I need a second who will hate Red Claw. Someone to have him focus his anger on." He narrowed his eyes. "Those scouts better come through." A sharptooth of Ravage's species walked up next to him and waited to be noticed.

"Speak." Said Ravage, annoyed at being interrupted.

"Ravage sir." Said the sharptooth. "We've found them." The sharptooth leader smiled maliciously.

"Good. Capture them, and if they resist execute them." Replied Ravage as he left to lead the group. Soon he'd have his plans come to fruition and Global Dominance would be all his. _Soon_.

The Fast Runner family moved through a small stream. They had been back in the Mysterious Beyond for a while and had yet to meet Dara, though given the areas they could access with Ravage's patrols around, if she hadn't been discovered, then it was only a matter of time before they could meet up. They had no idea how short of a time it would be. The cracking and snapping of branches accompanied by loud thuds froze the family on the spot in an instant. Mr. Fast Runner eyed his mate, trying to communicate without words. To his relief, she was hiding the kids behind her. The sound was rapidly closing. It'd only be a matter of time before…  
Mr. Fast Runner breathed a sigh of relief. It was a leaf-eater, a longneck. It stopped, gazing down at them.  
"Good afternoon." Said Mr. Fast Runner.

"Oh hello." Said the Longneck. "I'm Dara." The Fast Runners felt their spirits and hope rise.

"Hello Dara, I'm Mr. Fast Runner and these are my mate and children."

"Say hello children." Said Mrs. Fast Runner, to the kids peeking out from behind her leg.

"Hello Ms. Dara." The two said together.

"Hello children."

"I can't tell you how good it is to finally meet you." Said Mr. Fast Runner. "We were told to look for you by another longneck, Doc I believe his name was."

"Oh you know, Doc?"

"Yes, quite a nice old fellow." Said Mrs. Fast Runner. Dara chuckled kindly.

"Indeed he is."

"So Dara, what brings you around here?" Asked Mr. Fast Runner.

"I'm trying to sneak past the sharpteeth and get into the Great Valley."

"Ah yes. Great Valley, we have a daughter there. We also hoped to return, but now it's too dangerous. We'll never make it."

"You will with a big guardian like me."

"We couldn't put you up to that." Said Mrs. Fast Runner.

"You're not. I'm going anyway; I can protect you and you can give me extra pairs of eyes, ears and noses." The two adult Fast Runners considered for a minute.

"Deal." Said Mr. Fast Runner.

"They're somewhere deeper into this forest." Said a sharptooth to Ravage. A sizeable sharptooth force, large enough to at least match any strike force the Great Valley could gather up in a very short notice, stood behind Ravage. It had been so easy to track them; the scouts had started to get overconfident. Fortunately for the sharpteeth, they still feared Ravage too much to just relax after the ease they'd had in their task.

"Good." Rumbled Ravage making to enter the trees.

"Not so fast, Ravage." The black and silver sharptooth turned to look to the group's left to see Littlefoot and a small force from the Great Valley. The sharptooth leader had to admit he was surprised at just how fast the Great Valley had responded…

"Well if it isn't the hero with his unstoppable allies." Said Ravage with much sarcasm, greatly exaggerating his enunciation of hero with much derision. Senka growled softly at his mockery, and to Littlefoot's surprise Ravage actually heard her.

"Ah Senka. You're here too." Said Ravage in a mocking tone.

"Go choke on a rock." Senka retorted disdainfully.

"What do you intend to do with a group so small? Talk us to death?" Asked the sharptooth leader causing his forces to laugh.

"This is more than enough to stop the likes of you." Said Blade. Ravage narrowed his eyes.

"We'll see." Ravage smiled. "Get them!" With that the sharpteeth charged. The Great Valley group instantly tensed. They were outnumbered, but they would do what they could.

"Forwards!" Littlefoot yelled as his group rushed forth. As the two opposing sides met and began fighting, Littlefoot immediately saw Screech heading for Scythe. As the younger fast-biter finished beating down a long-tailed sharptooth his size, Screech grabbed Scythe  
by the neck and began throttling him. Littlefoot made to move in and assist him when a voice rang out.

"Fast-biter, heavy type!" Shouted Hyp. Littlefoot looked around. It couldn't be Screech or Thud, then who… he was tackled from the side by a large fast-biter, much larger than Streakclaw and Scythe, around Screech and Thud's size. A fast-biter heavy type. I lunged at his face, and Littlefoot just barely managed to catch its jaws in his paws, struggling to hold back the heavier, stronger sharptooth.

Mr. Fast Runner could not believe how fast Dara was moving. Since when could adult longnecks run? Especially one around his age; in other words past their prime. They were running so hard trying to keep up, the nearly ran right past her when she suddenly halted on spot. Dara's eyes had widened and she was looking around quickly, head whipping from side to side as she followed her senses.  
"What is it?" Asked Mr. Fast Runner, trying to regain his breath.

"Sharpteeth." Answered Dara.

"Get behind me children." Said Mrs. Fast Runner. As Dara moved forward slowly, Mr. Fast Runner realized how tense and still the atmosphere was. And how silent the environment had become. There was definitely sharpteeth in the area.

"Psst! Hey!"

"What?" Said Dara, looking around.

"I heard it too." Said Mr. Fast Runner. They looked around, heading towards the general direction of the sound.

"Over here." They stopped at the mouth of a large cave and gasped at what stood before them; the Fast Runners falling into shadow.

"Wow." Said the two younger Fast Runners.

At the sound of a nearby roar, Littlefoot saw out of the corner of his eye that Thud was rushing in to help his ally. Littlefoot felt a chill running down his spine. He could barely hold one off, and he couldn't stop to concentrate and gather his energy to transform. Thud was nearly upon them, bounding as he ran. He prepared to leap, jaws wide. The next thing anyone knew, Thud had been rammed aside, much more powerfully than anyone would've thought possible

"Back off!" Yelled Amber, standing at where Thud had just been. At that moment, the heavy fast-biter on Littlefoot lost its focus for a heartbeat. That split-second was all it took.

"Hyah!" Shouted Littlefoot, kicking the fast-biter off of him. Turning he saw Scythe and Screech, the latter still strangling the former. He has to act fast.

"Scythe!" Littlefoot yelled, picking up a stone, spinning around on the spot and tossing it. It struck Screech's head. The fast-biter immediately dropped Scythe and turned to roar at Littlefoot. Screech charged and Littlefoot rushed forth as well. They were nearly upon each other, when Littlefoot suddenly went low as he put his right shoulder forward. They impacted with Littlefoot using their momentum in the collision to flip Screech over him. The fast-biter landed on the ground with a heavy thud and a groan.

"You okay?" Littlefoot asked turning to Scythe who was one knee, massaging his throat with the claws on one hand.

"Fine, thanks sir." Littlefoot nodded before rushing back into battle.

"Aaah!" Screamed Senka as she slammed into a tree so hard, that the trunk broke, sending the tree crashing.

"Still think it was wise joining them?" Ravage growled, as he walked calmly towards. The only other large Great Valley sharptooth present was Blade, and he was busy at the moment with Red Claw and three sailbacks.

"Go grow a backbone, coward!" Said Senka as she struggled to her feet.

"Coward? I'm here fighting, aren't I? And who cares if I have to hurt a few leaf-eaters and a couple of traitors to get my way?" Ravage paused to think before suddenly smiling. "Parting is such a sweet emotion. Goodbye Senka." He aimed a large rock, the size of his  
fist and fired it right towards Senka's head. The stunned orange sharptooth was too surprised to dodge. To Ravage's shock another stone flew in from the left, smacking his away in midair. Ravage turned to see Littlefoot and Drake standing nearby. With a flash of blue light, Littlefoot fully transformed into his grown and spiked form.

"Your fight's with me Ravage!" Snapped Littlefoot.

"Bring it!" Roared Ravage as the two charged.

Littlefoot and Ravage slammed head to head, trying to push each other. They had already been fighting for three minutes and he knew his transformation wouldn't last much longer. Between the two wars, he'd gotten enough experience to hold it a bit longer than the originally five minutes, but it drained him heavily and couldn't stand for long. They were just to evenly matched.

"Rush forward my sharpteeth!" Ordered Ravage, sensing his opportunity. "Get their friends while they're weak!" While still pushing against Ravage, Littlefoot saw the battle between Blade and Red Claw and the sailbacks. He saw one of the sailbacks bite Blade on the shoulder just below the shoulder spike. Blade half roared in pain, half growled in anger as he twisted his arm, bringing his forearm spike stabbing down on the sailback's head. It roared in pain but the fact that it still stood told Littlefoot that Blade had missed a fatal blow. At the same time, many of the sharpteeth who had been double teaming the Great Valley's forces, broke off, rushing into the trees.

"No wait!" Said Littlefoot, trying to stop them but failing. Ravage smirked triumphantly.

"Stop them!" Amber yelled, hoping someone who could had heard her. She turned at a loud crash to see that Red Claw and the sailbacks had forced Blade to the ground. The blue sharptooth growled furiously, flipping on to his back and kicking out. The claws on his foot sliced open the throat of one of the sailbacks which fell to the floor. Red Claw and the remaining sailback rushed Blade together, forcing him to roll backwards over his shoulders in order to get back on his feet and stand again.

"What's the situation?" Asked Hyp as he approached where Amber was helping Drake and Senka fight sharpteeth of various sizes. Senka seemed badly injured, bleeding just below her left ribcage and moving with a noticeable limp.

"We're here to rescue our friends, but there's an ambush…and we're outnumbered." Replied Amber, not really paying attention and just reiterating the obvious.

"I know why we're here but-argh! Crud!" As he helped them fight, Littlefoot unexpectedly spun into their group, sliding on the mud. He reverted back to his normal self as he came to a halt. Hyp cringed, stating, "Huh. We could've planned this better." Ravage was approaching them as Littlefoot desperately tried to gather enough energy to retransform.

"I think it's time you all die." Said Ravage. The mocking tone was gone from his voice and he was dead serious. At that moment, Blade, still with Red Claw and a sailback clinging to his arms and shoulder, threw himself at Ravage, tackling the dark sharptooth to the ground.

"Blade!" Said Senka as she rushed over to the mess that was the fighting on the ground. She kicked out and while Red Claw rolled away, she caught the sailback in the face. Blade quickly rose and the two moved away while the three Mysterious Beyond sharpteeth were joined by the second sailback.

"It's no use, they got through." Said Blade, as Senka was helping him remain standing.

"They got through?" Yelled Amber. "Dang they got through!"

"Are you kidding me?" Asked Hyp. "Was all that for nothing? Arg!"

"We lost? We lost? Tell me we didn't lose!" Shouted Rhett. Littlefoot just held up a paw to silence him.

"Fall back, there's nothing more we can do now." Said Littlefoot. The Great Valley forces began a swift retreat, fighting back together any would be pursuers.

"Shall we purse and eliminate?" Said the less injured sailback, the one that had just joined Ravage. Ravage narrowed his eyes at the retreating group, then smiled wickedly.

"No. I want to enjoy this."

The sharptooth force was scattered in the forest, all but aimlessly meandering about as they seemed to be searching for something. Ravage arrived at an area to find a number of his sharpteeth walking around examine trees and bushes, boulders and logs. A fast-biter heavy type approached him nervously.  
"Uh, sir… we have a, erm… problem."

"_What_?" Said Ravage with deadly anger. He stepped forward to find the area empty save for the sharpteeth.

"Where are they?" He roared.

"Maybe they're hiding?" Suggested a fast-biter. It was quickly forced to scurry away as Ravage stomped his foot down where it had just been standing an instant ago.

"Find them!" The sharpteeth searched high and low for several minutes, but it was of no use, and as the time passed, they realized the situation was pointless to continue searching.

"They're not here." Said a sailback finally.

"Arrrrhhhh!" Ravage roared in anger.

The Great Valley team was back in the valley, cleaning their wound and healing. They were all chattering rapidly and fearfully, over each other. Littlefoot had his eyes closed in thought. He abruptly snapped them open and turned to look up at a valley wall. There was nothing there. Turning to where Amber, Rhett, Hyp and Cera were arguing with one another, he frowned.

"Would you be quiet for a minute?" Said Littlefoot. He turned to look back at the same wall and smiled. The group turned to see two red Horn-Heads, a longneck and four Fast Runner at the opening of a cave on one of the valley walls overlooking the Great Valley.

"Here we are, as promised." Said the first Horn-Head.

"Enjoy your stay and remember to look us up if you're ever in the Mysterious Beyond again." Said the second as the two began to leave.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Called the five leaf-eaters. They bid their new friends a fond farewell, then turned to look into the Great Valley below for a moment before proceeding down.

"Dara!" Said Doc as the Great Valley dinosaurs went to the base of the wall to greet the new arrivals.

"And Ruby's family!" Said Chomper. The five reached the ground and walked towards the group.

"Welcome all." Said Grandpa Longneck.

"And welcome back." Grandma Longneck added to the Fast Runners.

"It's good to be back." Said Mr. Fast Runner. Dara approached Doc, smiling.

"Hello Doc."

"Dara."

"Ma'am." Said Littlefoot.

"Hello Littlefoot."

"Wh-what? But… how?" Said Ali, confused. Drake, Amber, Rhett and Hyp all looked equally lost.

"Remember when I said I had a plan?" Asked Blade.

"And I went into the Mysterious Beyond to carry out said plans?" Added Harbinger. "I called in our old friends, the Horn-Heads to lead them to safety. We were out there to throw Ravage off their trail." Littlefoot laughed. Apparently he'd figured it out before the others.

(Flashback Begins)  
_  
"I heard it too." Said Mr. Fast Runner._

_"Over here." They stopped at the mouth of a large cave and gasped at what stood before them; the Fast Runners falling into shadow._

_"Wow." Said the two younger Fast Runners._

_"Hear you're looking to get into the Great Valley."_

_"What's it to you?" Asked Dara. The two dinosaurs stepped out of the shadows to reveal red scales on large powerful bodies and two horns on each's head. "Wait. Doc told me about you two." Dara turned to the Fast Runner family. "It's alright, we can trust them."_

_"There's a sharptooth ambush up ahead. We can take you around."_  
_  
_(End Flashback)

"Ingenious." Laughed Drake.

"I get it." Said Rhett. "Ravage was too busy focusing on us, thinking we were going to the rescue; and they slipped past."

"Right." Said Blade.

"Though, Horn-Heads aside, they were completely unprotected, until they reached the caves. Unorthodox but effective." Said Harbinger.

"Ah yes." Agreed Sawtooth. "We had to trust our friends would manage to bring them here safely. Thankfully, they succeeded."

"Well, they never let us down in the first war." Noted Littlefoot.

It was nearing nightfall when Pterano finally landed. He'd barely touched down when Ruby was already off his back, running to the gathered group. Shorty took his time so not to fall, and thanked Pterano. He then proceeded over to Littlefoot, Bron and Grandpa and Grandma Longneck.  
"Mom! Dad!" Yelled Ruby as she ran to her family.

"Hmm." Said Shorty as he watched with a small smile. Somebody shouldered him; Amber. He turned to her frowning but saw she was not looking for a fight.

"Good job." She said. Shorty smiled wider and chuckled.

"Thanks." Turning to Littlefoot he got serious. "Littlefoot. We got some things to go over. But more importantly, we have to discuss Berry Valley…" Said Shorty.

"**You lost them!**" Ravage roared.

"_**I**_** lost them?**" Red Claw shot back. "Your incompetent fools lost them!"

"Ravage?" Asked one of the fast-biters, clearly in fear.

"What?" Ravage snapped, bringing both his face and his teeth dangerously close.

"Um- uh, h-he's here." Stuttered the smaller sharptooth. Ravage's lips curled up, revealing his teeth even more in a menacing smile. He looked back up to Red Claw, still smirking dangerously.

"As you are apparently impossible to work with, I've taken the liberty of locating someone to keep you in check. Someone I'm sure you're very familiar with." As Ravage stepped aside he revealed a brownish-gray sharptooth. As soon as Red Claw saw him, he bared his teeth and began to growl. The new sharptooth growled back, each staring at the other with something much akin to hate. The black and silver sharptooth leader chuckled at this exchange. "We know him as Dirk. But you know him as something else…" Ravage pretended to think as Red Claw growled even more viciously, causing the newcomer to snarl back. "Now what was it? Ah yes…" Said Ravage, making a large show of seeming to find the right word. He turned to glare at Red Claw and smirked. "Son."


End file.
